At least 100 people were killed and 182 wounded when four or more large car bombs shook Iraq's capital city Baghdad on Tuesday.

The explosions rattled buildings across the capital. Police said three people died and five were wounded in a first blast in a southern Baghdad suburb. Others were killed and wounded in at least three successive explosions in the city center half an hour later.

Police say the blasts were apparently aimed at sensitive Iraqi government buildings. Some sources said there had been five explosions, two near judicial buildings, one near a university, another near in a central Baghdad commercial district and the earlier one in the south.

The blasts are the first large, high-profile explosions in Baghdad since October 25th, when two massive truck bombs killed over 150 people.