A bomb tore through food stalls and kiosks in a sprawling Shia slum in Baghdad Monday, killing at least 33 people.
The 6:15 a.m. explosion in Sadr City targeted poor Shia who gather there each morning hoping for jobs as construction workers.
At least 59 people were wounded, said police Maj. Hashim al-Yasiri.
The area of Monday's attack, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has seen repeated bombings by suspected al-Qaeda fighters seeking to incite Shia revenge attacks and drag Iraq into a civil war.
Ali Abdul-Ridha, being treated for head and shoulder wounds at a hospital, said he was waiting for a job with his brother and about 100 others when he heard a massive explosion and "lost sight of everything."
The U.S. and Iraqi military have kept a tight cordon around Sadr City since a raid last week in search of an alleged Shia death squad leader, who was not found.
Abdul-Ridha said the area had been exposed to attack because U.S. and Iraqi forces had driven Mahdi fighters who usually provide protection into hiding.
"That forced Mahdi Army members, who were patrolling the streets, to vanish," Abdul-Ridha, 41, said from his bed in al-Sadr Hospital.
However, Falih Jabar, a 37-year-old father of two boys, said the Mahdi Army was responsible for provoking extremists to attack civilians in the neighbourhood of 2.5 million people.
"We are poor people just looking to make a living. We have nothing to do with any conflict," said Jabar, who suffered back wounds. "If [the extremists] have problems with the Mahdi Army, they must fight them, not us."
The last major bombing in Sadr City occurred Sept. 23 when a bomb blew up a kerosene tanker, killing 35 people waiting to stock up on fuel for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The 33 victims in Sadr City were part of an overall toll of at least 80 people killed or found dead in Iraq on Monday.
October has seen rising civilian casualties.
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