Medeshi 29 Oct, 2008Suicide blasts hit northern Somalia
Five suspected suicide bombers have attacked targets in the Republic of Somaliland and Puntland , killing up to 25 people and leaving several wounded, officials say.
In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, three suspected suicide bombings struck several targets including the presidential palace, killing at least 19 people.
Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Nairobi where regional leaders are discussing the situation in Somalia, said that the Somaliland president and his wife were safe.
"Suicide car bombs targeted the presidential palace and the Ethiopian embassy. I saw smoke coming out of the presidential building. I also saw one dead soldier in front of the gate, but I could not get closer," said one eyewitness.
One police official said an employee of Ethiopia's embassy was badly wounded in the blasts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in the two cities, which had been largely spared by the violence that has rocked southern and central Somalia in recent months.
A former British protectorate, Somaliland united with the Italian Somalia in 1960. But it unilaterally broke away and announced independence 10 months after Mohamed Siad Barre was removed from power in 1991.
Puntland blasts
Muse Gelle, the governor of Bari in Puntland, said two blasts hit the offices of the Puntland Intelligence Service in Bosasso port on Wednesday.
"Two suicide bombers exploded cars in the Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) compound," Gelle said.
Mohamoud Musa Hirsi Adde, the president of Puntland, said six members of PIS were killed in the explosions.
According to witnesses, the explosions took place at around 10.30am (07:30 GMT).
Puntland declared itself autonomous from the rest of Somalia in August 1998 under the leadership of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the current president of the Somali interim government.
The attacks took place as leaders of Somalia's UN-backed interim government met regional heads of state for talks in neighbouring Kenya.
The four-year-old administration is under pressure to end the chaos and share some power with moderate opposition figures.
