Five security personnel and a mine expert were killed Wednesday in Somalia's capital when a car bomb exploded as they tried to defuse it.

Somali police spokesman Mohamed Yusuf Omar Madale says the car was parked near a police station in Mogadishu's Wadajir neighborhood.

"The security forces suspected, arrested its driver and while they were trying to dismantle the device the car exploded," Madale told VOA's Somali Service.

He said the explosive was apparently triggered by remote control.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion for such terrorist attacks always falls on militant group al-Shabab.

The group has carried out a long string of bombings and shootings in Mogadishu and beyond in an effort to impose their brand of Islam on Somalia.

The blast killed three police officers and two agents from Somalia's National Intelligence Service. A VOA reporter at the scene reports an expert from U.N. Mine Action also died the explosion, which destroyed several nearby houses.

Three of the victims were attempting to dismantle the bomb, while the three others had cordoned off the area.