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

A total of 112 people were killed and 425 wounded by the four coordinated bombings in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said in its latest toll reports.

    Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a police patrol in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, killing 15 people, including three policemen, and wounding 23 people.

Rescuers work at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Dec. 8, 2009.

The latest wave of deadly bombings is the third of such attacks since August 19 when suicide truck bombings struck the ministries of foreign affairs and finance, and the attacks on Oct. 25 when insurgents hit the buildings of Baghdad Provincial Council and the Justice Ministry.

    The attacks came hours before the Iraqi Presidency Council announced that March 6, 2010 is the date of holding the crucial parliamentary elections in the country.

    The presidency decision came two days after Iraqi lawmakers unanimously agreed on controversial amendments on the electoral law that would govern the war-torn country's national elections.

    Originally, the election was slated for January 16, but months of debate among Iraqi politicians to pass the amendments needed to the law in an attempt to reform the elections process to make it more representative for Iraqis inside and outside the country.

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki condemned Tuesday's bloody attacks, renewing his accusation to the remnants of Saddam Hussein's Baath party and the al-Qaida militants for committing such deadly attacks.

    "The terrorist gangs backed by both remnants of Baath party outside Iraq and al-Qaida, committed another massacre carrying the same black fingerprints which have always plunged into the blood of innocents," Maliki said in a statement issued by his office in the afternoon.

Rescuers work at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Dec. 8, 2009.

Maliki also said that the attacks came after the Iraqi parliament succeeded in passing the last stumbling block toward the country's landmark elections, confirming that "Iraq's foes are only aimed at inciting chaos in the country and halting any progress in the political process."

    The number of deaths by violence in the war-ravaged country had dropped to its lowest level in November since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, when official monthly figures showed that 122 people had been killed in the country.