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The Iraqi Prime Minister's re-election campaign is in tatters after two massive truck bombs ripped through central Baghdad, killing at least 147 people.

The blasts outside the Ministry of Justice and the offices of Baghdad's governing council occurred about a minute apart around 9:30 Sunday morning just as most people would have been settling at their desks on the first workday of the week for Iraqis. More than 700 people were injured, many seriously.

“ The people who carried out these attacks are trying to change the political order. ”— Security analyst

“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,” Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.

The twin explosions took place only hours before Mr. Talabani was to chair a special meeting of advisers and party leaders intended to resolve a political crisis over a new election law.

The country is scheduled to vote in a national election on Jan. 16.

The street where the blasts occurred had recently been reopened to vehicles, and concrete barriers moved to allow traffic closer to the government buildings.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki touted such changes as a sign of improved security, the central plank of his campaign platform.

But Sunday, Iraqis heaped nothing but abuse on their Prime Minister's efforts. “What's the government doing?” shouted one anguished citizen before the cameras of local media. “How could they let this happen?”

“These bombings just show that Maliki has failed in commanding the Iraqi armed forces,” said Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish member of parliament from the ethnically mixed and oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Coming just as Mr. al-Maliki was returning from an apparently successful trade mission to the United States, during which he attempted to entice companies to invest and work in Iraq, Sunday's bombings may undo much of his efforts, Mr. Othman said.

“These explosions will definitely have a negative impact on foreign companies working and investing in Iraq,” he said.

The outspoken MP said he expected that during the next session of parliament (to follow three days of official mourning) “many members will call for an investigation into Mr. Maliki's failure to do his job.”

Mr. al-Maliki's office issued a statement saying the perpetrators “want to cause chaos in the nation, hinder the political process and prevent the parliamentary election.”

The Prime Minister said the bombings were likely the work of al-Qaeda in Iraq and/or remnants of Saddam Hussein's former Baath party.

These were the same kind of statements made after the bombings in August that targeted the Foreign and Finance ministries a few hundred meters from the site of the blasts.

Twin blasts rock Baghdad

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“There's little doubt that the same people who carried out the August attacks also carried out these,” said a senior international security analyst. “Same style, same value of targets, same degree of difficulty.

“But I don't think the Baathists have the capacity to carry out attacks such as these,” he added.

“This is really big – to get two vehicles to this heavily guarded area, past any number of police checkpoints. It's bigger than an organization like the Baath.”

The death toll was the highest since a series of four truck bombs killed nearly 500 people in a Yazidi village in northeastern Iraq in August, 2007.

“The people who carried out these attacks are trying to change the political order,” the analyst said. “Look at the targets: the ministries of Justice, Finance and Foreign Affairs – three of the pillars of the state. And the Baghdad governate is even bigger than any of the ministries.”

“They knew what to hit if they really want to stir things up.”

He added that he didn't think the intention was to simply stop the January vote. “This will not have an effect on whether people vote,” he said. “Although it may have an effect on who they vote for.”