A series of coordinated bomb attacks Tuesday targeting crowded locations across the center of Iraqi capital Baghdad killed 118 people and wounded 180 others. Reports quoting police and medical authorities say the death toll is feared to rise because of critical injuries.
Two car bombs exploded near the Interior Ministry, the Labor Ministry and the Finance Ministry, two more struck in central Baghdad, one at a crowded market, and another at a police patrol in Dora in the south of the city.
All the bombs exploded within minutes of the first blast that occurred in central Baghdad at 10.25 a.m. local time.
The most serious bloodshed had been reported outside the new Finance Ministry building, which replaced the old one destroyed in an August explosion.
Reports quoting witnesses said children and women were buried under debris.
Reports quoting Interior Ministry officials said the victims of a suicide bombing at Dora checkpoint included a dozen students at a nearby engineering institute and three policemen.
A courthouse in Mansour district in central Baghdad, a judicial institute in Waziryia, and the Mustansiriya University were also bombed.
Smoke billowing from the burning buildings and vehicles darkened the capital skies. American Apache helicopters provided aerial security as Iraqi emergency vehicles rushed from the bomb sites to hospitals.
Security forces closed all checkpoints in the city following the attacks that created panic among the public. Heavy phone traffic reportedly jammed the mobile phone network following the blasts.
Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said al-Qaeda militants carried out the attacks.
Despite a fall in violence in Iraq since last year, a number of recent blasts have raised fears that sustained violence is returning to the country, aimed at destabilizing the government before the general elections that are just three months away.
This is the third incident within five months of coordinated terrorist attacks.
A wave of terror strikes with car bombs and a barrage of mortars on the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance in Baghdad on August 19 had killed over 100 people and wounded hundreds of others.
It prompted Iraqi government to seek a UN inquiry into the incidents that also killed diplomatic and government officials.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the government said, "Had the attacks managed to achieve their full aims, the result would have been paralysis of the state and its apparatus.....This could have affected security and peace in the Middle East."
A group linked with the al-Qaeda terrorist network claimed responsibility after it carried out the bloodiest attacks in Iraq in a single day in recent times.
Twin car bombs on October 25 rattled Baghdad administration offices, killing at least 155 people.
However, unlike the previous two, Tuesday's attacks did not appear to target heavily guarded government buildings.
This is a blow to the Iraqi government and security forces as Washington plans to end combat operations across Iraq by September next year, leaving the challenging task of maintaining the country's security to domestic forces and administration.
A vast majority of the more than 130,000 American troops pulled out from cities across the country in June, handing over control for security in urban areas to Iraqi forces.
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