A bomb hidden in a pigeon carrier box tore through Baghdad's famous pet market Friday, killing 15 people as part of an insurgent campaign targeting shopping areas that has killed more than 150 people in the past week.

The mayhem in the Al-Ghazil market of central Baghdad came as embattled Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to crack down on insurgents and militiamen who have unleashed a reign of terror in the capital.

Insurgents hid the bomb in a pigeon box which had air holes punched in it and blew it up in the animal market, killing at least 15 people and wounding 35, a security source said.

The explosion ripped through the market, which centuries ago was known for textile spinners selling different kinds of threads and yarns But over the past few decades, it had become a place where animal lovers gather largely on Fridays to buy expensive birds, dogs, cats, reptiles and tropical fish.

The market draws biologists and researchers who pay top prices for poisonous snakes that sellers catch at their own risk, and its shops display captured migrating birds, canaries, sparrows, carrier pigeons, reptiles and spiders.

The bombing was a yet another gruesome example of a trend used by insurgents to target more and more markets in and around Baghdad in a bid to inflict as many civilian casualties as possible.

On Thursday, at least 38 people were killed when a number of bombs hit markets and shopping streets in Baghdad.

But the deadliest attack was on Monday when 88 people died in a twin car bomb attack on the capital's Haraj market, known for second-hand goods.

On Friday, police also recovered six bodies in Baghdad of men shot in the head, apparent victims of sectarian attacks.

The blast in the animal market came as Iraqi and US forces were finalising a new security plan for Baghdad, which has been wracked by insurgent and sectarian violence.

More than 16,800 civilians were killed in the capital last year, according to a recent United Nations report.

Equipped with additional US-Iraqi troops, Maliki on Thursday vowed to crack down on anyone who brokelaw.

"All those who break the law will be hunted down," Maliki told parliament.

The Shiite premier said religious sites would not be "permitted to be safe havens for law breakers" and that carrying weapons in public would be banned.

"There will be no state within a state," he vowed.

US and Iraqi authorities insist the new plan will target militiamen involved in sectarian killing and its focus is expected to be the Mahdi Army, the armed unit loyal to anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

In a bid to escape an anticipated assault on its fighters, the political bloc of Sadr on Thursday supported the Baghdad security plan.

All 160 MPs present in the 275-seat parliament backed the plan, including 32 lawmakers from the Sadr bloc which ended a two-month boycott of government on Sunday.

Under the new plan, around 35,000 US troops and about 50,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen will try to secure Baghdad.