A car bomb went off near a restaurant in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, killing 15 people and wounding 33 others, an Interior Ministry source said.

"A car bomb parking near the Hali Restaurant in Sadr City neighborhood detonated at around 4:00 p.m. (1300 GMT)," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"We have 15 people killed and 33 others wounded in the blast, which also damaged the restaurant and nearby buildings," the source said.

The vast Shiite slum is a stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Source: Xinhua