MOGADISHU (REUTERS) - A car bomb exploded outside the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday (Oct 20) killing the driver, police said, and a witness said there were at least two bodies.

The explosion happened around noon in the village of Markaz, just over 20km north-west of Mogadishu, Police Major Nur Ali told Reuters, adding that police had not reached the scene which he called an area "inhabited by hardline Islamists".

A witness in the village who gave his name as Ahmed told Reuters by telephone that he had seen two dead bodies.

"The car was ruined and the dead bodies were cut in halves," he said.

The number killed in twin bombings in the Somali capital Mogadishu last weekend has risen to 358, the government said late on Friday.

It was the deadliest attack in the country's history.

The Islamist insurgency al Shabaab was blamed for Saturday's blasts, which happened when a car bomb and a truck bomb headed for the airport detonated prematurely.