(CNN) -- At least 75 people were killed and 160 wounded in a pair of nearly simultaneous car bombings in central Baghdad's Bab al-Sharqi district, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Monday.
"Body parts everywhere, many bodies charred, it was horrible," the official said.
According to the official, the midday bombings targeted civilians in a second-hand clothing market, the site of several attacks in the past, reports Trend.
The explosions left DVDs and compact discs scattered on the street as black smoke rose into the sky, The Associated Press reported. Iraqi police sealed off the area as ambulances rushed to the scene to evacuate the victims.
Separately, mortar rounds fell on an elementary school in southern Baghdad's Abu Dhseir section, killing one woman and wounding eight children.