Baghdad bomb attack

Bomb attack struck Baghdad on tuesday which killed atleast 103 and Nearly 200 others were wounded in the blasts, three of which targeted government sites and went off within minutes of each other
A total of four attacks, which also included a suicide car bomb on a police patrol, showed the ability of insurgents to strike high-profile targets in the heart of Baghdad and marked the third time since August that government buildings were targeted with multiple blasts that brought massive bloodshed.

"Civilians and security personnel have definitely been killed," Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said.

Iraqi police put the death toll from the attacks at 112.

One blast happened outside the labour ministry building and a second hit a nearby court complex near the protected Baghdad Green Zone.
Another bomb detonated near the new site of Iraq's finance ministry, whose previous building was destroyed in an August explosion.

"What crime have we committed? Children and women were buried under debris," said Ahmed Jabbar, as he sifted through debris near the finance building.

"Why did they (Iraqi security) let this car bomb pass?"

Sky's foreign affairs correspondent Lisa Holland said the sites were far from being soft targets.

"There was a very clear intent to deliver this devastation to the heart of government," she said.

"The timing has also been crucial. Parliament has been in recess until today.

"This has shown the vulnerability of the people and the inability to provide security for themselves."

A fourth blast was blamed on a suicide car bomber who drove his vehicle into a police patrol in the Sunni district of Dora in Baghdad's south.

The attacks - which were the deadliest in over a month - came as Iraqi officials consider a date for next year's parliamentary elections.

The country was expected to go to the polls in January, but a February date was now being tipped as the more likely option