A car bomb exploded in a market in southern Baghdad late Friday afternoon, killing at least 14 people and prompting an outburst of sectarian rioting, according to police and witnesses.
The attack was one of numerous bombings and shootings around the country in which 24 people were killed and 45 injured. They illustrated the tenuousness of the security situation in Iraq, where violence has fallen to four-year lows in recent months but political and sectarian divisions can quickly lead to bloodshed.