Forty die in Baghdad car bombings - police

BAGHDAD, Mar 12 (Reuters) At least 40 people were killed and 95 wounded in three apparently coordinated car bombs at two markets in Baghdad's Shi'ite district of Sadr City today police said.

It was one of the worst days of violence in the capital in recent months.

Two car bombs exploded in one market while a third blew up almost simultaneously at another. Police said they had discovered a fourth car bomb at another market and defused it.

Sadr city is a stronghold of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who commands the Mehdi Army militia force. The district in eastern Baghdad has been relatively free of violence in the last couple of years.

Ten people were killed in a series of mortar blasts and roadside bombings in Baghdad earlier today as the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-accused on charges of crimes against humanity resumed after a 10-day break.

REUTERS KD VC2200