Twin car bombs rocked two government buildings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday killing at least 132 people and wounding 600 others in the bloodiest attack the capital has seen in two months.
The two blasts shook buildings and smoke billowed from the area in central Baghdad near the Tigris River. The first blast targeted the justice ministry and the second, minutes later, was aimed at the provincial government building, police said.
The streets were flooded with water and firefighters pulled charred and mangled bodies off the streets. About six burnt-out cars were pilled up near the provincial government office.
Men carried corpses in blankets away from the scene and a dozen others tried to turn over a car with two bodies beneath.
"I don’t know how I’m still alive. The explosion destroyed everything … it’s like it was an earthquake, nothing is still in its place," local shop owner Hamid Saadi told Reuters by telephone from near the justice ministry.
Violence has fallen in Iraq since U.S.-backed tribal sheikhs helped wrest control from al-Qaeda militants and Washington sent extra troops but attacks are still common in a nation trying to rebuild after decades of conflict, sanctions and strife.
U.S. military officials say attacks like these are aimed at reigniting sectarian conflict that gripped the nation after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, or at undermining confidence in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki before a parliamentary election next year.
Maliki is expected to run on improved security conditions throughout the nation.
The blasts hit two months after bombings on Aug. 19 targeting the foreign and finance ministries that killed almost 100 people and wounded hundreds more. That attack prompted a rare admission of lapses by Iraqi security forces.