June 20 (Reuters) – The toll from twin bomb blasts at the Trade Bank of Iraq in Baghdad on Sunday rose to 26 dead with 53 people wounded, police and an Interior Ministry source said.

The bombings occurred a week after an assault by suicide bombers on Iraq’s Central Bank in which 18 people died, highlighting fears of increasing violence as militants try to exploit a political vacuum after a March election that produced no clear winner and no new government so far.

Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said the attack on the Trade Bank involved two suicide bombers in cars, who drove at the main gate of the bank and blew up when they struck blastwalls. Moussawi put the death toll at 18. (Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Matthew Jones)