BAGHDAD (AP) -- Three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the market district of a southern Iraqi city Wednesday, killing at least 41 people and wounding 150 in a Shiite region that has largely escaped the bloodshed, authorities said.

The police chief in Amarah was fired, an immediate driving ban went into effect, and Iraqi soldiers were deployed on the streets. Hospitals were quickly overwhelmed with the casualties, which mounted as bodies were pulled from the rubble, according to a provincial spokesman.
In a Christian neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, a parked car bomb apparently targeting a passing police patrol killed five civilians, police said. Thirteen people were wounded in the late afternoon explosion in Ghadeer, police said.
The explosions in Amarah were about five minutes apart, beginning with a small blast at the entrance to the market, said Mohammed Saleh, a provincial council spokesman, elaborating on earlier accounts by police and an intelligence official.
Saleh said bystanders gathered to look at the aftermath of that blast, which wounded just a few people, when a second car bomb exploded. The third car blew up nearby as the crowd began to flee, he said.
Saleh said 41 people were killed and 150 wounded in the three explosions. He said local hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties and were turning away people who were not critically hurt.
He earlier said police imposed an indefinite driving ban, and Iraqi soldiers were sent into the streets.
The explosions could be felt a half-mile away, said Salam Hussein Jabr, who runs a travel agency. He said his office windows shook and two pictures fell off the walls, and he ran outside to see what had happened.
“This is the first time we’ve gone through anything like this,” said Jabr, a 44-year-old father of three.
Initially, people thought it was a mortar attack, he said. Then the second car exploded.
“Police prevented us from getting near. I saw about 100 people on the ground and police, soldiers and civilians were evacuating them,” he told The Associated Press by telephone.
Black smoke billowed over the skyline and flames shot out of cars. Rescue crews worked to evacuate the victims. Sandals apparently lost in the rush lay near pools of blood.
Mohammed Sabri, an elementary school principal, called for more security in the city.
“Amarah is a quiet and stable city, but it seems that terrorists have arrived here,” he told AP Television News.