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 Police in Amarah imposed an immediate driving ban and Iraqi soldiers deployed on the streets.
The explosions were about five minutes apart, beginning about 10 a.m., when an explosives-laden car parked in a garage blew up, local police and an intelligence official said.
Another car about 50 yards away exploded shortly afterward as people gathered to examine the damage from the first, police said.
The third blast occurred across the street from a movie theater, also about 50 yards away, police said.
The explosions could be felt a half-mile away, said Salam Hussein Jabir, who runs a travel agency in the city. He said his office windows shook and two pictures fell off the walls, and he ran outside to see what had happened.
"It was really tremendous," said Hussein, a 44-year old father of three. "This is the first time we've gone through anything like this."
Hussein said people initially thought it was a mortar attack. Then the second car exploded.
"Police prevented us from getting near. I saw about 100 people on the ground and police, soldiers and civilians were evacuating them," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"The smell of gunpowder mixed with the smell of the charred flesh," he continued.
Mohammed Saleh, a provincial council spokesman, said at least 26 people were killed and 100 wounded. An official at Zahra General Hospital in Amarah said new casualties were still coming in.
The police, intelligence and hospital officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details of the attack.
There were conflicting accounts of the number of bombings, with some officials saying two cars had exploded and others saying there were three bombs.
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 Saleh said police detained 25 suspects, including some who were using cell phones and cameras nearby, and were questioning witnesses. He said an indefinite driving ban was imposed, and Iraqi soldiers were deployed on the street.
"We are focusing on evacuating casualties to the hospital," Saleh said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Amarah, a Shiite militia stronghold about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, has seen violence among rival groups vying for control in Iraq's oil-rich Shiite southern heartland, which has no significant Sunni population. Al-Qaida is not known to have a significant presence in the region, although the terror group is often blamed for spectacular car bombings elsewhere in Iraq.
The city is the provincial capital of Maysan province, which borders Iran. Iraqi forces took over control of security from British troops there in April. The British are expected to turn over neighboring Basra province, the last area under their control, in mid-December.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was visiting Basra on Tuesday, said the attack was a "desperate attempt" to undermine efforts to stabilize the country.
"Any criminal act they commit would only be a desperate attempt to draw attention away from the clear successes and to break through the siege imposed on the defeated groups," he added.
He also called on residents in Amarah to exercise restraint and avoid revenge attacks against the "terrorists who do not want Iraq to stand up again."
[Associated
Press; By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA]
Associated Press Writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
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