The death toll of four attacks targeting a Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad on late Sunday rose to 48, a police source told Xinhua.
 
There are 148 others wounded in the attacks, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier reports from Iraqi police said there were three explosions in the area, leaving 20 people killed and more than 70 wounded.

The carnage began at about 7:00 PM (15:00 GMT) when a rocket struck a building in a market in southern Baghdad district of Zaafaraniya. The building was heavily damaged. Several minutes later, a car bomb near the building exploded.

A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in the same area went off minutes later, wounding three policemen, the source said.  

This was followed by a motorcycle bomb attack, which destroyed a building.

The upsurge of violence in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities is seen as a major setback for the Iraqi government's efforts to achieve security. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2006)