A car bomb has torn through a cafe packed with young men watching a football match in an area southern of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, killing at least 16 people

A car bomb has torn through a cafe packed with young men watching a football match in an area southern of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, killing at least 16 people.

The explosion occurred in Abudsheer, an enclave in the former al-Qaeda stronghold of Dora, an area of the capital which saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq conflict.

"It was a bomb inside a vehicle which resulted in the death and injury of a number of civilians in the district of Abudsheer," said Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's security spokesman.

Al-Qaeda operatives have vowed revenge for Osama bin Laden's death on Sunday.

Most of the dead and wounded were young people watching a football match, said police and hospital officials.

Many locals were quick to blame al-Qaeda. Security officials said they expected the organisation's local affiliate to carry out revenge attacks.