A car bomb was detonated in the Iraqi town of Hilla today, killing at least 115 people and wounding at least 148. The bomb was set off near the crowded marketplace in this town located approximately 60 miles south of Baghdad.

The car bomb was set off near a group of people lining up outside a local health center to apply for government jobs. The blast was so powerful that many shoppers in nearby stalls were killed and not just those who were targeted because they were attempting to work for the American-backed Iraqi government.

The death toll is expected to rise. A local health official in Hilla told Reuters, 'The number of dead has reached 115. We are doing our utmost to treat the wounded (but) the death toll may rise.'

This represents the biggest single attack by insurgents in terms of the number of dead since the American army's invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had just admitted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Iraqi troops were still unable to maintain security without American help. 'Iraqis should be able to start taking over more and more security responsibilities very soon,' Allawi wrote. 'But we will continue to need and to seek assistance for some time to come.'

Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide bomber attacked in Musayyib, just 20 miles from Hilla. The only death reported was that of the suicide bomber himself.

An American soldier was also killed today at a checkpoint in Baghdad while manning a traffic checkpoint. That brings the total number of American deaths since President Bush claimed that hostilities were over in Iraq to 1,137.