BAGHDAD — A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines on Saturday, killing at least 56 people, police and hospital officials said.

Separately, a suicide car bomb killed 10 people on a major bridge in downtown Baghdad — the second attack on a span over the Tigris River this week, police said. The Jadriyah bridge suffered little damage.

The bus station bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, where the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is buried — one of the most important sites for Shiites.

State television aired footage from the scene, in which rescue workers could be seen evacuating casualties. The charred body of a child laid motionless on a stretcher.

At least six children were among the dead, according to an official at Al-Hussein Hospital. Iranian and Pakistani pilgrims were also among the casualties, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

"I want my father. Where is my father?" cried out 11-year-old Sajad Kadhim as he lay in the grounds of the hospital, where doctors were treating his burns.

"All I remember was we were shopping. My father was holding my hand and suddenly there was a big explosion. I don't know where my father is. I want my father," the boy cried.

A 72-year-old woman who called herself Um Hussein ran through the hospital corridors looking for her daughter and 6-year-old grandson.

"They were near the bomb. They went to buy something for our lunch," she said, pounding her head in grief. "What did they do to deserve this. To whom should I complain. There is no government to protect us," she moaned.

Hundreds of people swarmed around ambulances, crying out and pounding their chests in grief. Police fired into the air to disperse crowds and clear roads for emergency vehicles, but angry mobs attacked them and set two police vehicles on fire.

Rioters surrounded the Karbala governor's office and demanded his and provincial council members' resignations — blaming them for lax security. Mobs threw stones at the governor's office and set fire to the building.

A curfew was imposed in the area, and the city's entrances were sealed off while police and soldiers patrolled the streets.

More than 70 people were also wounded in the attack, said another official at Al-Hussein Hospital on the same condition of anonymity.

"The explosion was a huge one. It took place in a crowded area," said Khalid al-Daami, head of the city's security committee. Among the dead were several women and children, he said.

Karbala lies 50 miles south of Baghdad, and is the destination of an annual Shiite pilgrimage.