BAGHDAD, July 27: Bombs and shells ripped through a bustling district of central Baghdad on Thursday, killing 27 civilians in a bloody riposte to a pledge from the Iraqi prime minister to halt the violence.

Unidentified men detonated one car bomb — some witnesses spoke of more — and fired mortars into the Karrada district at the heart of the strife-torn city, spraying shrapnel and partially demolishing a three-storey building.

In a simultaneous and apparently coordinated attack, mortar bombs were fired into the busy commercial area, adding to the chaos and destruction.

The latest attacks, in a city which sees around 60 violent incidents per day, came after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wrapped up his first visit to Washington with a promise to halt the bloodshed.

An interior ministry official said the attack had targeted an area near a petrol station and that three mortar rounds had been fired after the explosion of a powerful car bomb.

Further west, in the Mansur district of the capital, three people were shot dead by unidentified gunmen and, elsewhere, another car bomb in the northern city of Baquba injured five people.

REDEPLOYMENT: The United States-led forces have decided to redeploy their own units into sensitive areas of the capital from elsewhere in the country in support of the embattled Iraqi security forces.—AFP