At least three people were killed and 25 others wounded in a car bomb explosion in a popular market in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, a well-informed police source told Xinhua.

"A car bomb parking in the busy Souq Mreidy market in the heavy populated Sadr City detonated at about 4:20 p.m. (1320 GMT)," the source said on condition of anonymity.

Ambulances and volunteering civilian trucks transferred the victims to nearby hospitals, he said.

The attack came two days after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki ordered U.S. and Iraqi troops to lift their blockade on Sadr City, stronghold of Shiite militia.

Source: Xinhua