"Pieces of flesh and the remains of books were scattered everywhere," he said.

A worker at a nearby shoe store, Youssef Haider, 24, said the blast flipped burning cars with charred bodies trapped inside. He and co-workers used two-wheel pushcarts for shoe boxes to carry away the wounded.

In other violence, gunmen opened fire on Shiite pilgrims in several places around Baghdad, killing at least seven people, police said.

The Shiites were apparently heading to shrines and holy sites in southern Iraq for the annual commemoration to end a 40-day mourning period for the death of a revered 7th century Shiite martyr, Imam Hussein.

t was the bloodiest day in the capital in more than a week, and came on the heels of a major push by nearly 1,200 US and Iraqi troops into teeming Sadr City as part of a nearly 3-week-old security offensive across Baghdad.

The sweeps seek to drive out militants and establish permanent stations in troubled areas. Search teams also uncovered a nearly tenfold increase in hidden weapons stashes in the past week, the military said.

More than 21,000 small arms rounds were confiscated last week, up from 2,160 the previous week; 937 mortar rounds were discovered, up from 89 the week before, it said. Attacks on soldiers in some Shiite districts are also down sharply.

That's mostly because al-Sadr ordered his fighters to pull back after coming under strong government arm-twisting to allow the security plan to proceed.

In Sadr City, Iraqi troops set up checkpoints and took a far more visible role than Americans, who led the push into the area Sunday. The move was an apparent attempt to avoid Shiite anger in a place of past street battles with US forces.

The troops plan to establish outposts in Sadr City that will bring together Iraqi police, military and US-led forces, said US Brig. Gen. Terry Wolff, who oversees training of Iraqi soldiers.

"It's about presence," he said.

But pressure on al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army continued on other fronts.

In the southern city of Karbala, the home of a Mahdi Army leader was raided in a joint US-Iraqi operation, the US military said.

Al-Sadr's followers also warned they would fight any Cabinet changes that would single them out.

"We will not give up our share and any of our ministerial posts under any circumstances unless all other blocs are subjected to the same procedure," said Saleh al-Ukaili, head of Sadrist faction in parliament, where the bloc controls 30 of the 275 seats.

An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said 10 of the 39 ministry posts soon would be replaced - including five of the six ministers loyal to al-Sadr. The adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.

Relations between al-Sadr and the government are already tense. Late last year, the prime minister withdrew his official protection for al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army and allowed US-led forces to close in.

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