BAGHDAD: Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings killed at least 132 people and wounded more than 500 in Baghdad on Sunday, police and health officials said, in one of the bloodiest days in the Iraqi capital this year.

Violence has fallen in Iraq since U.S.-backed tribal sheikhs helped wrest control from al Qaeda militants and Washington sent extra troops but attacks are still common in a nation trying to rebuild from conflict, sanctions and strife.

Security officials push an overturned car to rescue the victims inside after two car bombs targeting the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad Provincial Council exploded in central Baghdad October 25, 2009. [Agencies]

The two blasts shook buildings and smoke billowed from the area near the Tigris River. The first targeted the Justice Ministry and the second, minutes later, was aimed at the nearby provincial government building, police said.

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Government officials said al Qaeda militants or remnants of Saddam Hussein's former supporters were likely behind the attacks.

U.S. military officials say such attacks are aimed at reigniting the sectarian conflict that gripped the nation after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam, or at undermining confidence in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before a parliamentary poll next year.