Iraq's prime minister vowed yesterday that attacks by two female bombers which killed 99 people in Baghdad would not derail improved security, but angry residents demanded the Government do more to protect them. uri al-Maliki said Friday's nearly simultaneous bombings at two popular pet markets, the deadliest attacks in the city since April, would not herald a return to the savage violence that took Iraq to the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.

The US military said there were indications the women were mentally disabled, probably unaware they were being used as human bombs, and it blamed Al-Qaeda for the attacks.

"I swear on the blood (of the victims), we will achieve all our goals in securing a stable Iraq. We will continue to ...crush the terrorists and target their strongholds," Maliki said in a statement.

The attack at the crowded Ghazil pet market in the city centre killed 62 people and wounded 129, just minutes after another blast killed 37 and wounded 67 at a bird market in southern Baghdad, police said.

Iraq's military said the bombs were detonated by remote control. Major-General Jeffery Hammond, the commander of US troops in Baghdad, said there were indications the two women were mentally impaired.

"It appears the suicide bombers were not willing martyrs, they were used by Al-Qaeda for these horrific attacks," Hammond told reporters.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq, blamed by the US military for most other large-scale bombings, has increasingly used women wearing suicide vests to carry out strikes after increased security and protective concrete walls made car bombings more difficult. Hammond suggested using unwitting bombers could be a new tactic to circumvent tougher security measures.

"These two women were likely used because they didn't understand what was happening and they were less likely to be searched," he said.