A series of blasts in Baghdad killed 95 people and wounded 536 in Iraq's bloodiest day this year, renewing doubt over Iraqi forces' ability to maintain security after U.S. troops pulled out of urban areas, Reuters reported.
Baghdad's security spokesman made a rare admission of culpability after the attacks, in which at least six blasts struck near government ministries and other targets at the heart of Iraq's Shi'ite-led administration.
"This operation shows negligence, and is considered a security breach for which Iraqi forces must take most of the blame," Major General Qassim al-Moussawi told Iraqiya state TV.
The government said this month that most of the city's blast walls would be removed within 40 days, a sign of confidence in its security forces after U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban centres in June, and ahead of elections due in January.
Wednesday's blasts were a rare example of a coordinated attack on heavily guarded targets.
In one blast, a massive truck bomb close to a security checkpoint leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone blew out the windows of the nearby foreign ministry, sending shards of glass through busy offices, killing dozens of people.
"The windows of the foreign ministry shattered, slaughtering the people inside. I could see ministry workers, journalists and security guards among the dead," said a distraught ministry employee who gave her name as Asia.
VIOLENCE AHEAD OF POLLS
The explosion was powerful enough to shatter some windows of Iraq's parliament building in the Green Zone. The attacks could undermine confidence in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ahead of the parliamentary election.
Maliki and others have said such bombings are likely to increase as the January poll nears.
"They are meant to convey a message to Iraqis and the world that insurgents are still there and can block the political process," said analyst Hameed Fadhel of Baghdad University.
"Today's attacks reveal a major deficiency and weakness of the security forces. They were organized and huge," he added.
No group claimed responsibility, but Moussawi said two members of al Qaeda were arrested when another car bomb was intercepted.
Sunni Islamist groups like al Qaeda consider Shi'ites heretics, and have been blamed for a series of blasts in the last two months at mostly Shi'ite venues such as mosques both in the capital and in northern Iraq where insurgents have exploited rows between Kurds and Arabs.