ZAAFARANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - The main hospital in the district of southern Baghdad where an arms dump exploded on Saturday said at least 12 people had been killed and 40 injured.
Zaafaraniya hospital spokesman Khazum Jasim told Reuters that five of the victims who either arrived at the hospital dead or had died during treatment were children. He said there could be other fatalities who had not come through the hospital.
Earlier, an Iraqi civilian medical worker ferrying victims to hospital by ambulance said as many as 40 people had died.
The explosions at the ammunition dump, blamed by U.S. forces on unknown attackers, ignited stored rockets and sent them shooting in a wide radius into residential areas.
The dispersed arc of destruction made it difficult to establish precise casualty figures.
One man living just over half a mile north of the ammunition dump, Tamir Kalaal, said 14 family members had been killed when a missile crashed into his house.
A crowd of about 200 people gathered at the scene where Kalaal's house -- now reduced to rubble -- had stood.
"America is talking about freedom but where is our freedom?" asked Khaidar Rahim, 54, expressing the anti-U.S. sentiment of the crowd.
"Now they are causing explosions inside civilian areas. We would like to face (U.S. President) Bush and tell him he is a criminal."
One of the casualties in the hospital, Suad Abdullah, a pregnant woman aged 30, said she had been in her kitchen making breakfast when she heard a loud blast.
"The children started shouting, I saw fire and I fell down," she said. She had cuts and blood over her face and arms.
Her 18-month-old niece Zenab, her hair matted with blood, lay in the hospital bed with her.