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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
MOGADISHU, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Three simultaneous
explosions rocked Hargeysa, the capital of the northern breakaway state
of Somaliland and two suspected suicide car bombers blew themselves up
at a security compound in Bossaso, in the northeastern semiautonomous
region of Puntland, on Wednesday, witnesses said. News from both Somaliland and
Puntland remain sketchy, but local media reports say the death toll is
standing at 16 and 25 others were wounded.
The explosions in Hargeysa hit targets including UN offices, witnesses told Xinhua by phone from Hargeysa.
In Bossaso, Puntland, two suicide car
bombers rammed their vehicles into a compound used by the local
security forces, wounding nine security forces personnel, Omar Yare, an
eye witness around the area of the blasts said.
The attacks came as regional
leaders are meeting in Nairobi on Wednesday to discuss ways of
restoring normalcy in Somalia which has been rocked by violence for
many years.
The leaders from Kenya, Uganda,
Djibouti and Ethiopia are expected to meet leaders of Somalia's
Transitional Federal Government, many of its legislators, and members
of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, an insurgent group
that signed a ceasefire agreement with the transitional government in
Djibouti on Sunday.
The meeting organized by the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) will also attempt to
reconcile warring factions, including bringing the Al-Shabaab into the
peace process.
The Nairobi Summit comes in the
wake of a ceasefire agreement between Somalia's transitional government
and one of the country's rebel factions.
The new accord which was signed in
neighboring Djibouti sees Ethiopian troops leaving strategic areas of
Somalia starting next month and has them replaced first by African
Union troops from Uganda and Burundi, and then later by a joint "police
force."
SOURCE: Xinhua,Wednesday, October 29, 2008