A car bomb went off at a busy market in a town near the restive city of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and wounding 20 others, local police source said.

"A booby-trapped car detonated in a marketplace in the town of Amriyat al-Fallujah, 7 km south of Fallujah City, killing at least 15 people and wounding 20 others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The predominantly Sunni enclave has long been the hotbed of violence and insurgency against U.S. troops since the invasion in 2003.

However, residents in western Iraq often blame al-Qaida in the country for deadly attacks after rifts emerged between Sunni tribes and al-Qaida militants.

Al-Qaida's adherence to a hardline form of Sunni Islam and indiscriminate killings have brought it into conflict with some Sunni tribes in the Anbar province where Fallujah located.

Source: Xinhua