BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – A car bomb exploded Tuesday at an outdoor market in a Shiite area of southwestern Baghdad, killing 22 people and wounding 28 in the deadliest such attack against civilians in the capital in a month.

The blast in the neighborhood of Dora _ one of several bombings across Iraq that killed a total of 29 people Tuesday _ left cars burning and nearby stores ablaze. Children screamed while women wailed “Our children have died!” and “The terrorists, may God punish them!” The suspected bomber was arrested.

Dora is among the most dangerous neighborhoods in Baghdad, where car bombings and roadside bombs have been a daily occurrence since a Sunni-dominated insurgency began in the summer of 2003.

The United States, Britain and other coalition members hope Sunni participation in the next Iraqi government will deprive the insurgency of its lifeblood. They believe that a national unity government is essential to their strategy of handing over security to Iraqi soldiers and police so that international troops can begin to go home this year.

Britain’s foreign secretary told Iraqi leaders Tuesday they must form a government free of domination by a single group, reinforcing U.S. pressure on political leaders to put aside ethnic and sectarian differences in the interest of the nation.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the results of the Dec. 15 parliamentary election showed the Iraqi people want a “broad government of national unity” to bring together “all the different elements” of Iraqi society.

“It is a crucial moment today for the people of Iraq,” Straw told reporters alongside President Jalal Talabani. “The international community, particularly those of us who played a part in liberating Iraq, obviously have an interest in a prosperous and stable and democratic Iraq.”

Straw said the election results showed that Iraqis want a government where “no party, no ethnic or religious grouping can dominate.”

In other violence Tuesday, seven people were killed and at least 27 wounded in a series of bombings, some targeting liquor stores and women’s hair dressers in Baqouba, according to police.

Shortly after midnight, eight hair dressers were blown up in one street by extremists who have broadened their targets beyond Americans, Iraqi security forces and government officials. The blasts caused huge damage but no casualties, according to the Diyala police.

Explosions also hit three liquor stores, killing one owner and wounding three other people, said police in the city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

An Iraqi Cabinet minister escaped injury when a bomb exploded near her convoy in eastern Baghdad, police said. Three security guards were wounded. The attack against Suhaila Abed Jaafar, minister of migration, occurred as she was traveling along the Mohammed al-Qassim highway, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoon said.

The bloodiest attack was in a Shiite part of the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Dora.

Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said the car was parked on a street about 30 yards from a police checkpoint.

Another police officer, Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharawi, said the bomb was detonated by remote control and an Iraqi suspected of triggering the device had been arrested.

Police 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq said the explosion apparently was aimed at a police patrol but missed its target.

The wounded were taken to the hospital, said Abdul-Razaq, who arrived at the scene shortly after the bomb went off at 4:45 p.m. Television footage showed women with bloody faces being treated by doctors.

Tuesday’s bombing appeared to be the worst in Baghdad since Jan. 19, when a suicide attacker blew himself up in a downtown coffee shop, killing 22 people and wounding 23.

Witnesses said at least four passing cars caught fire and some motorists were killed or seriously wounded. Ambulances hurried to the scene, while motorists helped ferry the injured to hospitals.

At Yarmouk hospital, two women relatives of those killed _ dressed in black abaya robes _ appeared dazed as they squatted on the floor of a corridor. Medics scurried about tending wounded with blood streaming down their faces.

Several bodies covered by blankets lay atop gurneys as ambulances arrived with more wounded.

The market consisted of shops mostly selling domestic appliances such as refrigerators and cookers.

But vendors sell sweets and vegetables from sidewalk stalls. Shattered pieces of fruits and vegetables mixed with huge pools of blood on the street.

The British official arrived in Baghdad late Monday after the United States’ ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, delivered a blunt warning that Iraqi leaders risk losing American support unless they establish a national unity government with the police and the army out of the hands of religious parties.

There is growing international concern over the direction of the talks among Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political parties as they attempt to put together a government following the December elections. Those talks, which began in earnest this month, have snagged because of deep divisions among the three groups.