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In what appeared to be the deadliest single attack after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, a suicide car bomber killed at least 115 government job hopefuls on Monday.
The attack dealt a heavy blow to the interim government, which hailed as a victory the capture of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a half-brother of Saddam and suspected key coordinator of insurgency in Iraq.
More than 200 others were wounded in the powerful bombing, which rattled Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, a spokeswoman for the Iraqi Red Crescent told Xinhua.
Ambulances and medical equipment were called in from Baghdad due to a sudden shortage of emergency stuff after the blast, she noted.
The explosive-laden vehicle ran into a large crowd of people who were lining in front of a health center for physical checkup to work for the state, said Adnan Abdul-Rahman, spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
The bomb was detonated around 9:30 AM (06:30 GMT) when the street was also packed with passers-by, he added. Wreckage and human parts bestrewed the area and the street was sprayed with blood.
It remained unclear how many among the victims were would-be police recruits or civil servants, both of whom came under frequent attacks by insurgents.
Hilla, a mainly Shiite city, is the capital of Babil Province, situated within the notorious "death triangle", where rebels were among the most active in Iraq.
Police there often join the US-led multinational forces in raiding rebel hide-outs along the Euphrates river across the triangle.
In a separate event, another suicide bomb ripped through an Iraqi police convoy in Latifiya, a restive town north of Hilla, killing one police officer and wounding four others, Abdul-Rahman told Xinhua.
A third policeman was killed early Monday in Mussayib in the same area by a home-made bomb.
Explosions also echoed in Baghdad throughout the day.
Insurgents have frequently attacked Iraq's fledgling security forces and civilians who work with the US-backed interim government, accusing them of collaborating with the occupation forces.
A US soldier manning a checkpoint in Baghdad was killed late Sunday, the US military said Monday, bringing to at least 1,485 the US military death toll in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2005)
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