Abdel Ghani al-Saadi, health chief for east Baghdad, reported "26 dead and 90 wounded".

"Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in Tayyaran Square in central Baghdad," said General Saad Maan, spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, which includes the army and the police.

Tayyaran Square is a bustling center of commerce and a place where day laborers gather in the early morning waiting for jobs.

It has been the site of deadly attacks in the past.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but most such attacks in Iraq are the work of the Islamic State jihadist group.

In December, the government announced the "end of the war" against IS, which has been expelled from the Baghdad region and urban areas of Iraq that it controlled.