BAGHDAD, Iraq  -- Two bombs exploded in central Baghdad, claiming at least seven lives and injuring 69 on Monday, Iraqi authorities said.

For the first time, a car bomb went off outside the southern gate to the highly secured Green Zone in Baghdad, emergency service officials said.

The zone houses many Iraqi ministry buildings, as well as the U.S. and U.K. Embassies.

A video footage showed a blazing white SUV and heavy damage of a number of surrounding vehicles.

Meanwhile, black smoke from the second blast could be seen from the roof of the Palestine Hotel.

According to an eyewitness account, a white vehicle sped towards the nearby Baghdad Hotel, which detonated at the blast-proof walls surrounding the facility. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the second car bombing.

Gunfire echoed through parts of the city center as ambulance sirens wailed through the streets and U.S. Army helicopters darted through the sky.

This twin blasts came a day after the U.S. military claim that it has killed more than 130 insurgents in two days of fighting in Samarra and called the operation a successful first step in the drive to retake cities from extremists.

However, locals are peeved as they say many civilian lives were lost in the aforesaid operation.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, Iraqi police have found the bodies of a man and a woman on October 2, who are believed to be Westerners, an Iraqi hospital official said Sunday.

The official said that man's body was decapitated and his hands were tied behind his back. The woman, who had blonde hair, had been shot in the head, the official said.

The bodies have not been identified.