Iraqi Minister of Justice Hassanal-Shammari said on Monday that a coordinated car bombs and suicide bomb attack on the Iraqi ministry of Justice on Thursday killed up to 30 people and wounded 50.

"The final toll of the people killed by the explosions that targeted the ministry is 30 killed and 50 wounded," Shammari told reporters here.

On Thursday, Iraqi Interior Ministry source put the toll at 21 killed and 50 wounded by car bombs and suicide bombers who broke into the Justice Ministry in central Baghdad.

"The terrorists have benefited from the confusion that occurred when they blew up the first car bomb at the entrance of the ministry," Shammari said.

"Then they (gunmen) crossed the second barrier after they blew up the second car bomb and stayed into the building for more than an hour until the Iraqi security forces retook control of the building," Shammari said.

On Sunday, al-Qaida militant group claimed in a statement posted on internet its responsibility for the attack and said it was "part of attacks to revenge for the Sunni women in the prisons of the apostates (Shiite-led government)."

The statement said that the ministry has been used as a "tool in fighting, terrorizing, torturing, imprisoning and executing the Sunnis."

Sporadic violence and waves of high-profile attacks are still common in the Iraqi cities nearly four months after the country held its landmark parliamentary election which is widely expected to shape the political landscape of the war-torn country. Endi