Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Twin suicide car bombs targeting government buildings in central Baghdad killed more than 130 people and wounded hundreds more in the worst attack in the country this year, Al-Jazeera television said, citing police.

The bombs went off at 10:30 a.m. local time outside the headquarters of the Baghdad provincial administration and the Ministry of Justice, about 500 meters apart, the state-run Iraqi National Agency said, citing unidentified officials.

The attack was the deadliest this year and the second since August to target government buildings in the Iraqi capital. Coordinated explosions in Baghdad on Aug. 19 struck sites including the Foreign Ministry, killing almost 100 people. Iraq has suffered a surge in violence this year focused on government offices, security forces, the majority Muslim Shiite population and the Kurdish-dominated northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.

The attacks, blamed by the government on al-Qaeda and insurgent groups, underscore the fragility of security since U.S. troops withdrew from urban areas on June 30 and as the country prepares for elections in January. U.S. President Barack Obama aims to remove all combat forces by the end of August 2010 and wants a complete U.S. withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Troop Drawdown

Senator John McCain of Arizona said the attack won’t cause the U.S. to rethink its troop drawdown strategy, speaking today on the CBS program “Face The Nation.”

“But there will continue to be outbreaks of this violence -- it’s extremists trying to ignite sectarian violence, that’s what’s going on,” McCain said. “We’ve still got a ways to go but it’s not going to require any delay in withdrawal of U.S. troops.”

The attacks will continue “but they are not sustainable,” said McCain, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The Iraqi military will be able to handle this transition” as U.S. troops continue to be reduced from the current level of about 117,000, he said.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher R. Hill and the top U.S. commander General Ray Odierno condemned the bombings in a joint statement issued today from Baghdad.

“These despicable attacks serve no legitimate purpose” and “will not deter Iraqis from administering justice based on the rule of law and carrying out their legitimate responsibilities,” the statement said.

Justice Sought

The U.S. “will assist in any way to ensure those individuals or groups responsible be pursued and brought to justice in accordance with Iraqi law,” they said.

While violence is below levels at the height of sectarian conflict between Shiites and minority Sunni Muslims three years ago, it has undermined Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

“This is coming at a precarious time because of the upcoming elections and the rather quickly paced U.S. withdrawal next year,” Peter Harling, an Iraq expert at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said by phone from Damascus. “Maliki opponents in the elections have an interest in seeing him fail in his reputation as someone who has brought a degree of stability. The insurgents are keen to show they have the ability to destabilize Iraq.”

U.S. and Iraqi commanders have said they expect violence to increase before the national elections in January. Apart from the August bombings, the single previous worst incident this year in Iraq was on June 24, when 69 people died following a blast in a market in Baghdad’s Shiite Sadr City area.

-- With assistance from Daniel Williams in Cairo and Tony Capaccio in Washington. Editors: Ann Hughey, Mark Rohner

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Dubai at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 25, 2009 12:43 EDT