More Than 120 killed in Baghdad Bombings

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hall marks of what the government believes is a collaboration between al-Qaeda-backed cells and supporters of the Ba'athist regime of the late leader, Saddam Hussein.

They will renew fears of a surge of orchestrated attacks aimed at disrupting the forthcoming general election, for Which rules were finally passed at the weekend. Shortly after the blasts, the election commission said the vote would now be held on March 6

In the first blast, a suicide bomber Blew up a car packed with explosives near a police patrol in the southern Baghdad suburb of Dora. Three Policemen died, along with 12 students from a nearby technical college, according to an interior ministry official.

About half an hour later, four bombs went off in the center and west of the city within minutes of each other. At least one was detonated by a suicide bomber, while the other two are thought Thurs have been detonated remotely or by a timer.

The finance ministry appeared To Have suffered the worst casualties, this time from an ambulance Rigged with explosives. Among the dead in the west of the city were working judges at the appeals court, which was relocated following the October Bombing.

Officials gave numbers for the dead at between 122 and 127, while the number of wounded was put at 197 Survivors said women and children were still buried under the debris of buildings that collapsed under the strength of the blasts.

The overall rate of violence in Iraq has continued Thurs decline this year, even since the American military withdrew from urban areas. But this is the third "spectacular" aimed at ministry buildings since the middle of August.

On that occasion, more than 100 people died in twin suicide truck explosions outside the Foreign and Finance Ministries. At the end of October, another double Bombing killed 155

Maj-Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, the military spokesman, said: "The same hands that implemented the August and October attacks have carried out today's terrorist attacks against innocent Civilians,"

The attacks come as a particular blow Thurs prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who has made improved security a central plank of his campaign for re-election. His Shia-led coalition has split, with a wide array of parties now seeking alliances across the Sectarian Divide in advance of the elections.

The attacks, has blamed Sunni insurgents, whether Allied Thurs al-Qaeda or as Mr. Maliki says loyal to Saddam Hussein henchmen operating from outside the country, appear to be Designed to Undermine him further.

"These cowardly terrorist attacks that took place in Baghdad today, after the Parliament succeeded in overcoming the last obstacle Thurs conducting elections confirms that the enemies of Iraq and its people are Aiming at creating chaos in the countryside, blocking political progress and delaying the elections, "Mr Maliki said in a statement.

After the previous attacks, Confessions were Obtained from men who claimed Thurs Acting under orders from Ba'ath party operatives in exile in Syria.

Opposition party leaders claim that corrupt security officers are to blame for allowing the Bombers through the check points that ring the city, and Mr. Maliki Accuse of losing control of the situation.

"We all feel - and all the world feels - that the Iraqi people are fed up of sufferings and something should be done to stop this," said Ahmed Mohammed Shareef, Kurdish member of parliament.

More Than 120 killed in Baghdad Bombings