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MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded near a bus stop in a district of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday, police said.

It was not yet clear who had carried out the bombing.

The Islamist group al Shabaab has frequently carried out bombings in Mogadishu and other towns, seeking to destabilize the western-allied central government.

“I have counted seven dead bodies of civilians,” Major Nur Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters by phone.

He said the car exploded just as a minibus carrying civilians was passing by. The death toll was likely to rise, he said.

A Reuters witness at the scene said he saw at least three dead bodies and a damaged minibus with blood stains on it.