Officials said that at least 65 people were killed and 420 wounded in a double bombing in central Baghdad on Sunday morning.

An interior ministry official said that two car bombs detonated in quick succession near Iraqi government buildings.

One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad’s governorate building and the second one outside the justice ministry, about 500 meters away.

Ahead of the country’s national elections scheduled for January 16, Iraqi and US officials have warned of a possible increase in violence.

A day earlier, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice completed a two-day visit to Iraq.

She stopped on the foreign ministry building, one of six sites that were previously attacked on August 19.

At least 100 people were killed and more were wounded on that day’s attacks. The deadliest of the six were two suicide truck bombs that struck at the heart of Iraq’s government, hitting the finance and foreign ministries.

(article and photo source: CNN)