(CBS/AP) A suicide truck bomber struck a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad on Saturday, killing as many as 121 people among the crowd buying food for evening meals, one of the most devastating attacks in the capital since the war started.

The attacker was driving a truck carrying foodstuffs including oil and flour when he detonated a ton of explosives, destroying stores and stalls in the busy outdoor Sadriyah market, police said.

The late-afternoon explosion was the latest in a series of attacks against mainly Shiite commercial targets in the capital. No group claimed responsibility, but it appeared to be part of a bid by Sunni insurgents to provoke retaliatory violence and kill as many people as possible ahead of a planned U.S.-Iraqi security sweep.

Many of the injured from the market blast were driven to overwhelmed hospitals in pickup trucks and angry young men lifted bodies onto stretchers. The Kindi hospital, Baghdad's main emergency facility, quickly filled had to start refusing patients, asking ambulances to take them elsewhere.

"It was a strong blow. A car exploded. I fell on the ground," said one young man with a bandaged head, his face still streaked with blood.

Police and hospital officials said at least 121 people were killed and 226 wounded. The Health Ministry put the figure at 105 killed and 331 wounded.

Maj. Gen. Jihad al-Jabiri of the Interior Ministry told state television the truck was carrying a ton of explosives and destroyed 10 buildings.

"It was a suicide attacker who entered the market at a time when it was packed with people," al-Jabiri said. "There are still bodies under the rubble."

He said checkpoints at the market's entrance failed to stop the truck and called on the government to deport foreign Arabs, saying recent attacks have been carried out by suicide bombers.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called the bombing "horrific" and said it was "an example of what the forces of evil will do to intimidate the Iraqi people... To those who commit these heinous crimes we send this message: You will be relentlessly hunted until you are apprehended and brought to justice."

The bombing hit at a particularly inopportune time for the Bush administration's latest attempt to crush violence in the capital and just days before American and Iraqi forces were expected to start an all-out assault on Sunni and Shiite gunmen and bombers.

The blast was the deadliest attack in the capital since Nov. 23, when suspected al Qaeda in Iraq fighters attacked the capital's Sadr City Shiite slum with a series of car bombs and mortars that struck in quick succession, killing at least 215 people.

A suicide bomber also crashed his car into the Bab al-Sharqi market, near Sadriyah, on Jan. 22, killing 88 people.

South of Baghdad, a pair of suicide bombers detonated explosives Thursday among shoppers in a crowded outdoor market in the Shiite city of Hillah, killing at least 73 people and wounding 163, police said.

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In other developments:

Two soldiers assigned to Multi-National Force — West died Friday from wounds sustained due to enemy action in Anbar province, a vast insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, according to a military statement.

A roadside bomb killed two Multi-National Division — Baghdad soldiers Friday south of Baghdad, the military said, adding that the unit was investigating battle positions in the area when the attack occurred.

A 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) soldier died Friday of an apparent cardiac arrest after conducting physical training, the military said. It said the incident was not related to combat and was under investigation.

At least 13 U.S. troops have died in the first three days of February and at least 3,097 service members have lost their lives since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

A U.S. Army helicopter crashed Friday in a hail of gunfire north of Baghdad, police and witnesses said — the fourth lost in Iraq in the last two weeks. The U.S. command said two crew members were killed, and the top U.S. general conceded that insurgent ground fire has become more effective. An al Qaeda-affiliated group claimed responsibility and said its fighters had "new ways" to attack American planes.

Mortars slammed into several predominantly Sunni areas in Baghdad, killing at least two people and wounding nearly 20, police said.

The U.S. command said 18 insurgents were killed in fighting Thursday night and Friday after insurgents opened fire on the Americans from several positions in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. No civilian or U.S. casualties were reported, the military said.

Also in Anbar, gunmen assassinated the Sunni chairman of the Fallujah City Council, Abbas Ali Hussein, an outspoken critic of al Qaeda. He was the third council chairman assassinated in Fallujah this year as insurgents target Sunnis willing to cooperate with the U.S. and its Iraqi partners.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met Friday with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and the outgoing U.S. commander in Baghdad, Gen. George Casey, to discuss a planned major military operation against armed groups in Baghdad, state television said. It gave no further details.

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© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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