BAGHDAD (AP) -- A pair of suicide car bombings Sunday devastated the affection of Iraq's capital, killing at atomic 147 bodies in the country's deadliest advance in added than two years. The bombs targeted two government buildings and alleged into question Iraq's adeptness to protect its bodies as U.S. armament withdraw.
The bombings show that insurgents still accept the adeptness to barrage horrific attacks alike as violence has dropped dramatically in Iraq. Many fear such attacks will alone increase as Iraq prepares for acute January elections.
The dead included 35 employees at the Ministry of Justice and at atomic 25 agents members of the Baghdad Provincial Council, said badge and medical admiral speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to allege to the media. At atomic 721 bodies were wounded, including three American contractors.
The artery area the blasts occurred had aloof been reopened to vehicle traffic six months ago. Shortly after, bang walls were repositioned to allow traffic closer to the government buildings. Such changes were touted by Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as a sign that safety was abiding to the city.
The Iraqi leader absolved amid the mangled and blackened cars, which lay in advanced of bang walls that had been decorated with peaceful artery scenes of Iraq. At the Justice Ministry, windows and walls on both sides of the artery were blown away, and blood pooled with baptize from burst pipes.
Al-Maliki has staked his political reputation and re-election bid on his adeptness to bring accord to the country and apprenticed to punish those responsible, who he said wanted to "spread chaos in the country, un! dermine the political action and prevent the holding of parliamentary elections." But the Sunday attacks seemed designed to paint the Iraqi leader as butterfingers of providing aegis to the abandoned city, undermining much of his political support.
The attacks occurred aloof hours afore Iraq's top leadership was scheduled to accommodated with heads of political parties in adjustment to ability a compromise on acclamation guidelines needed to authority the January vote.
President Barack Obama, who beforehand this anniversary reaffirmed the U.S.'s commitment to withdrawing its troops from the country, alleged al-Maliki to offer his condolences.
"These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they alone reveal the hateful and destructive agenda of those who would deny the Iraqi bodies the approaching that they deserve," Obama said.
The actuality that the cartage were able to get into an area home to numerous government institutions - aloof hundreds of yards from the heavily adherent Green Zone area the U.S. Embassy and the prime minister's office are located - sparked demands that those in charge of the city's aegis be held accountable.
"Those amenable for aegis and intelligence should be checked and interrogated," said Sunni Iraqi administrator Wathab Shakir. "Why should innocent bodies be killed?"
The initial analysis appropriate the vehicles, each loaded down with added than 1,500 pounds of explosives, might accept anesthetized through some aegis checkpoints afore hitting their destination, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, a agent for the city's operations command center.
There accept been no claims of responsibility so far, but massive car bombs accept been the hallmark of the Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow the country's Shiite-dominated government. Iraq has accused members of ! the outl awed Baath Party living in neighboring Syria of being abaft another alternation of baleful bombings in August that additionally targeted government buildings. Al-Maliki blamed the attacks on Baathist and Al-Qaida.
Black smoke billowed from the frantic scene, as emergency account cartage sped to the area. Many of the blood-soaked were loaded into the aback of trucks and into civilian cars because there were too abounding for ambulances to carry.
"The walls burst and we had to run out," said Yasmeen Afdhal, 24, an employee of the Baghdad bigoted administration, which runs the city. "There are abounding wounded, and I saw them being taken away. They were pulling victims out of the rubble, and hasty them to ambulances."
The bigoted board is the burghal government, which oversees a ample ambit of burghal services such as debris collection, electricity, administration of ammunition for generators and school maintenance.
U.S. troops were additionally alleged in at the request of the Iraqi government to advice secure the area, deal with any atomic material and offer forensics cadre to abetment in the investigation, said a military spokesman, Maj. Dave Shoupe.
The coordinated bombings were the deadliest back a alternation of massive barter bombs in northern Iraq killed about 500 villagers from the boyhood Yazidi sect in August 2007. In Baghdad itself, it was the worst advance back a alternation of suicide bombings against Shiite neighborhoods in April 2007 killed 183.
Three American aegis contractors working for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad were injured in the blasts, said Philip Frayne, an embassy spokesman. Frayne could not anon provide capacity about who the contractors were escorting, which aggregation they formed for or the nature of their injuries.
The explosions were aloof a few hundred yards from Iraq's Foreign Ministry, which ! is still rebuilding afterwards massive bombings there in August. The bombings were a adverse blow for a country that has seen a dramatic drop in violence back the height of the bigoted fighting in 2006 and 2007.
On the streets of Baghdad, abounding Iraqis were angry at what they described as a lapse in aegis and wary about what will appear when U.S. armament leave.
"Everyday, we hear statements from different government admiral that our armament are accessible to control the bearings on the arena when the U.S. armament withdraw," Zahid Hussain Najim said. "But day afterwards day it has been begin that these admiral are either liars or accept no abstraction about what's going on outside their offices."
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Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Muhieddin Rashad, Mazin Yahya and Barbara Surk contributed to this report.
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