A car exploded outside a southern Iraqi marketplace on Wednesday, killing at least eight people and wounding 28 in the latest deadly attack in the nation's spiraling cycle of violence.

The strike in the Shiite town of Zubaidiyah brought the day's death toll to 11 before noon.

Police said the car was parked at a market in Zubaidiyah, located about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Baghdad. At least one child and two women were among the dead, local police and health officials said.

Resident Hussein Jassim said the bomb struck a usually placid town, leaving bodies littered on the ground and cars and trucks in flames.

"Everybody rushed to the explosion site and we saw horrible scenes that we, unlike other Iraqis, are not used to," said Jassim, a teacher who was in his house when he heard the bombing. "Nobody in the town expected this because we thought we had been spared the violence hitting the country. But it seems our turn has come at last."