Scores dead in Iraq car bombing

Two car bombs in central Baghdad have killed at least 132 people and wounded more than 550 others, police sources have told Al Jazeera.
The blasts went off less than a minute apart on Sunday, near the ministry of justice and the headquarters of the Baghdad provincial administration close to the Tigris river.
Firefighters pulled charred and mangled bodies off the streets near the provincial government building while burnt-out cars were piled up at the blast site.
There were so many wounded that civilian cars were pressed into service to bring the casualties to area hospitals.
"The walls collapsed and we had to run out," Yasmeen Afdhal, an employee of the Baghdad provincial administration, targeted by one of the bombs, said.
"There are many wounded, and I saw them being taken away. They were pulling victims out of the rubble, and rushing them to ambulances."
Authorities closed off roads leading to the bomb sites as fire engines and ambulances struggled through thick traffic to reach the blazing buildings.


Baathists blamed
Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said he suspected either al-Qaeda or remnants of Iraq's former government to be behind the attacks.
"The initial analysis shows that it bears the fingerprints of al-Qaeda and the Baathists," he said.
Al-Dabbagh said he was in the nearby al-Mansour hotel when the bombs went off and he and others around him were showered in glass.
The timing of the attack has raised suspicion because Iraq's political leaders were set to meet later on Sunday to resolve a dispute which could lead to a delay in elections scheduled for January.
Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said that if there was a delay "the government ... and parliament will lose its legitimacy, that there would be a return to sectarianism".
With the bombings, the bloodiest attack in the Iraqi capital for months, it was unclear if the political rivals would risk convening.

Political message
Al-Maliki, who later toured the site of the blasts, has also accused al-Qaeda and former Baath party members of being behind the attack.
But Ahmed Rushdi, an Iraqi analyst, said that pointing to al-Qaeda and elements from the Baath Party, the party of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader overthrown in the 2003
US invasion, was an electoral strategy.
"Al-Maliki represents the Dawa party, which is [from] the Shia majority, and we have elections in January. He will say ... 'I'm going to protect you from al-Qaeda and pro-Baathists'," he told Al Jazeera.
"It's always al-Qaeda and pro-Baathist [elements that are blamed]. There is no talking about security infiltration, or the security failures in the Iraqi government."
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament, told Al Jazeera the bombing was a message to Iraqi politicians and foreign investors.
"This sends two messages, one of them is to the investment conference in Washington held just a few days ago as if to tell investors not to come to Iraq ... At the same time I think it may be a message to the meeting today of the political council of national security," he said.
"They're trying to solve the problems concerning the elections law. I hope this will urge them to work more than before to solve this problem."

Bombings condemned
Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, condemned the attack, as did other world powers.
"The presidency of the European Union condemns today's car bombs in Baghdad," said a statement issued by Sweden, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
"The presidency conveys its condolences to the families of the victims of this terrorist attack," it said.
In August, blasts near government ministries killed almost 100 people and wounded hundreds in Iraq's bloodiest day this year.
Though violence has fallen in Iraq, attacks are still common.
Many Iraqi officials have warned that ahead of the planned elections, violence by groups intent on making the country appear unstable, could rise.
Source: Al Jazeera