BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber blasted an outdoor market Saturday in a northern Iraqi city, killing six people and wounding 54, police and hospital authorities said.

Four-year-old Muntazer Ahmed, who was wounded in a suicide bomb attack, is treated at a hospital in Dahuk, 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 6, 2008. At least six people were killed and about 50 were injured Saturday when a suicide bomber attacked an outdoor market, police and medical officials said. [Agencies]

Saturday's attack occurred in the same Tal Afar market where a suicide truck bomber killed 28 people and injured 72 last month.

That raises questions about whether Iraqi police are capable of maintaining security in the strategic north, where al-Qaida in Iraq remains active, as the Americans hand over more responsibility for security to Iraqi soldiers and police.

Police said the bomber detonated his explosive-laden car near a crowd of people gathered around a traffic accident in the market, which was crowded with shoppers buying food for the traditional evening meal that breaks the daily fast in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"I was walking through the street toward my work when I felt what seemed like a hurricane," said Asghar Saied, 52, from his hospital bed in Dahok where he was taken with shrapnel wounds and a broken leg.

"People were running in all directions," he said. "A woman was shouting about her missing child who was blown from her hand by the blast. Despite my injuries, I can't stop thinking about that woman. Is it a humanitarian or Islamic thing to do during the holy month of Ramadan?"

Mohammed Ahmed, 18, said his 4-year-old brother, Muntadhar, was wounded in the blast.

"He was playing. I hurried to find him after the bombing. But I couldn't find him at first because he was thrown a long way by the blast. He suffered a broken leg and his white shirt was soaked in red" blood, Ahmed said.