Baghdad Car Bomb Kills 10, Injures 40

Allawi told reporters that the blast, which took place at about 9.30 a.m. (0530 GMT), came in response to the Iraqi police’s crackdown on "insurgents", Aljazeera news channel reported.

The powerful blast occurred in an area where cars queue to drop visitors to the Green Zone, a huge, heavily protected complex in central Baghdad.

Aljazeera footage showed severely wounded Iraqis being rushed to hospital, while black smoke billowed into the sky.

The explosion destroyed at least four cars and knocked pedestrians off their feet, Reuters news agency reported.

"I saw seven dead," a US soldier at the scene of the blast told Reuters.

An Iraqi National Guard said two of his colleagues were among the dead.

He added that some of the wounded were from the interim Defense Ministry, but he had no overall casualty figures.

"My God, my God," screamed one woman, when the bomb went off. She ran for cover, as did other visitors queuing for security checks at the entrance to the US-held zone.

Iraqi resistance fighters often fire mortars and rockets at the Green Zone and car bombs have been detonated at its entrances.

In May, the then head of Iraq ‘s now-defunct Governing Council was killed in a car bombing as he entered the compound.

Wednesday’s attack is the first major car bombing in Baghdad since Allawi’s interim government took over from US-led occupiers on June 28.