Car bombs kill at least 136 in Baghdad's bloodiest day for two years.

TWO powerful suicide car bombs blew up outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in central Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 136 people in the worst attack in more than two years.

Iraqi leaders said the attacks aimed to disrupt political progress in the months leading up to January's crucial elections.

While violence has dropped dramatically in the country since the height of the sectarian tensions, the latest bombings underscored the precarious nature of the security gains and the insurgency's abilities to still pull off devastating attacks in the centre of what is supposed to be one of Baghdad's most secure areas.

The street where the blasts occurred had just been reopened to vehicle traffic a few months ago when blast walls were repositioned to allow traffic closer to the government buildings. Such changes were touted by Iraq's prime minister as a sign that safety was returning to the city.

"The perpetrators of these treacherous and despicable acts are no longer hiding their objective but to the contrary, they publicly declare that they are targeting the state ... and aiming at blocking the political process, halting it and destroying what we have achieved in the last six years," President Jalal Talabani said.

There have been no claims of responsibility so far.

CAPTION(S):

A body is removed from the site Iraqis gather at the site of a massive bomb attack in Baghdad yesterday