9 December 2009, Iraq

Iraqi leaders were set to come under fire, having failed to prevent a spate of attacks in Baghdad that killed 127 people in Tuesday. The blast undermined the government’s claims of improved security and MPs quickly demanded Prime Minister Nuri al-maliki and government security ministers answer for the failings that led to the attacks.

The United States, united Arab, United Nations, however, led condemnation on Tuesday’s blast, with UN chief ban ki- moon calling them “horrendous” and “unacceptable”.  Interior minister jawed al- bolani, whose department is responsible for police forces across Iraq, welcomed being questioned by lawmakers in the council of representatives over the attack, which a senior security spokesman said bore, “the touch of al-Qaeda”. “I m ready to go to the parliament on the condition that the session be public”. Bolani said. The bombings all struck within a minute in the Baghdad city on Tuesday.  One suicide bomber detonated his payload at the finance ministry office; another struck at the tunnel leading to the labor ministry and third drove a four wheel-drive car into a courthouse.

A fourth suicide bomber in a car struck a police   patrol in Dora in southern Baghdad, causing 15 deaths, 12 of them students at the nearby college. Interior ministry officials said. Another car bomb hit the interior minister’s office in central Baghdad.