A tanker truck exploded on Wednesday at a busy crossroads in Baghdad killing at least 16 people and wounding a dozen.

"This was an act of terrorism because there was no (military) target here," Baghdad police chief Hamid Sabah Fahed was quoted as saying by a news agency.

The blast went off at 0830 hours IST in the Al-Bayaa district in the southwest of the capital.

Reporters at the scene said the tanker exploded in the middle of a wide crossroads, devastating the immediate surrounding area, incinerating cars and people in them.

Four people were dead in one car, while a pickup truck, a minibus and the tanker truck were reduced to burnt-out metal wreckage.

Agencies