At least 147 people were killed in two car bombings in central Baghdad yesterday, bringing fears of a blood-drenched election campaign.

The attacks, the deadliest in two years, occurred along a road thronged with traffic. They destroyed three government buildings: the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Works and the Baghdad governor’s office, where ten members of parliament were attending a meeting.

The bombs exploded within two minutes of each other at about 10.30am. First came the smaller bomb outside the governorate, which caused pedestrians to flee 500 metres north towards a ministerial complex, where the larger bomb went off.

The dead included 35 employees at the Ministry of Justice and at least 25 staff members of the Baghdad Provincial Council, according to Iraqi police and medical sources.

Hospitals struggled to cope with more than 700 casualties, including three American contractors, and smoke hung over the city for hours.

Haifa Street, which runs north from the fortified green zone, was left several feet deep in water from mains shattered by the blasts. The water had turned red in places with the blood of the dead and injured.

“Where were the security forces?” screamed Muhammad Radhi, who was searching for his sister, a ministry employee.

The attack was most likely carried out by Sunni extremists linked to al-Qaeda or the former regime of Saddam Hussein, who are trying to undermine the Government. Iraqis are due to elect a new parliament on January 16, but a row over election rules could cause a delay.

Many Iraqis saw yesterday’s attacks as a blatantly political act. “It’s about the election,” said Salman, a Kurdish man looking for a car left behind by his injured brother. “It’s a way of influencing politics.”

Violence had been decreasing for the past two years but remnants of an insurgency remain alive and kill about 300 Iraqis every month. The run-up to the election may coincide with a new upsurge in violence, US military commanders warned in recent weeks.

An attack on August 19 destroyed the foreign and finance ministries. “I was there that day but this is bigger,” said Ahmed Ali, 19, of the Baghdad civil defence force.

Yesterday’s bombs blew out the windows on several office towers and ripped deep craters into roads. A family of seven lay incinerated in their car.

“How could the bombers get through all the government checkpoints?,” asked Umm Ali, a woman arriving at the scene. “Somebody from inside must have helped them.”

Initial investigations suggested that each vehicle was loaded with more than 1,500 pounds of explosives.

All three government buildings had been protected with concrete blast walls but the explosions blew them away.

President Obama, who called Iraqi leaders to express his condolences, described the attack as showing “the hateful and destructive agenda of those who want to slow progress in the country”.

One man, however, owes his freedom and perhaps his life to the bombings. He had been kidnapped and bundled into the boot of a car minutes earlier. The driver was injured by the first blast and his two accomplices were killed. “He kicked the inside several times before we opened the boot,” said a police officer.

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