By IANS/AKI,
Brussels : Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has condemned the coordinated car bomb attacks that killed over 120 people and injured 500 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and said terrorists were “seeking to undermine the democratic electoral process in Iraq”.
“I want to express my dismay and horror at the series of attacks in Iraq,” Frattini told journalists in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
“The attacks claimed many innocent victims,” Frattini said.
The high-profile attacks targeted sensitive sites and came two days after MPs approved a new new election law to govern national polls due early next year.
Five bombs, including at least three suicide attacks, struck near a college, a court complex in western Baghdad, a mosque and a market and a neighbourhood near the interior ministry in what appeared to be a coordinated assault.
The attacks were said to bear the hallmarks of previous attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group for the Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other terrorist networks in the country.
The group claimed earlier deadly attacks in Baghdad in August and October in which hundreds of people were killed.
“They are a sign that terrorists are lurking who are apparently seeking to undermine the democratic electoral process in Iraq,” said Frattini.
“The elections must consolidate the message that Iraq is on what I hope is an irreversible march towards democracy.”
Frattini will next week meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki in Rome to reinforce the Berlusconi government’s support for the country.
Iraq’s Presidency Council announced Tuesday that the country’s general election would be held March 6.
It will be the second national vote held since late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was ousted from power following the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003.
Tuesday’s attacks were the worst in Iraq since twin suicide bombings struck three ministries Oct 25, killing at least 155 people and wounding 500 others, all civilians.