国际英语新闻：127 Iraqis killed in spate of deadly bombings in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Five massive car bombings hit the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing a total of 127 people and wounding 448, in the third deadliest series of attacks since August.

The attacks came hours before the Iraqi presidency council fixed a new date for the country's crucial parliamentary elections on March 6.

    The first attack occurred at about 10:25 a.m. (0725 GMT) when a car loaded with explosives went off at the park of the new seat of the Finance Ministry after a massive truck bombing on August 19 badly damaged its original building in Waziriya district.

Iraqi armed police stand guard at a building damaged during a bomb attack in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Dec. 8, 2009. Five blasts hit Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 127 people and injuring another 448

    Seconds later, another car bombing took place near an intersection close to the Interior Ministry in eastern Baghdad, while a third car bombing detonated in the park of a court near the Institution of Fine Arts in Baghdad's western district of Mansour.

    The bombing at the court building apparently targeted the part of the building occupied by the federal court which moved recently from its original place in the building of the Justice Ministry in Salhiyah which was destroyed by a massive truck bombing on October25.

    A minute later, a fourth car bombing carried out by a minibus loaded with explosives went off at the intersection of the Nidaa mosque, near the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in the al-Qahira neighborhood in northeastern Baghdad.

Debris are scattered over the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Dec. 8, 2009. Five blasts hit Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 127 people and injuring another 448.

The powerful blast destroyed dozens of civilian cars which were crowded at the intersection.

    "I saw dozens of cars were charred and many bodies were scattered at the site and some parts of human bodies were thrown on the roofs of nearby buildings," Jamal al-Obiedi, a witness at the scene told Xinhua.

    Footage of the Iraqi local television al-Sharqiya showed the finance ministry bombing destroyed parts of its building and many old houses in the nearby impoverished neighborhood were damaged.