Three people were killed and 49 others injured when a motorcycle bomb ripped through a crowded market in Baghdad's Sadr City on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

A booby-trapped motorcycle parking in the busy Souq Mreidy market in the heavy populated Sadr City detonated at about 4:20 p. m. (1320 GMT), killing three people at the scene, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The Interior Ministry source rectified an earlier report by the local police that the explosion was caused by a car.

Meanwhile, he increased the number of the wounded to 49 from 25 reported by police source.

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