Five suicide car bombs hit targets in the autonomous Somali regions of Somaliland and Puntland Oct. 29, killing some 20 as well as the bombers. Three simultaneous blasts in Somaliland's capital Hargeysa targeted the presidential palace, an Ethiopian diplomatic compound and the offices of the UN Development Program. In Puntland's capital Bosasso, two offices of an Interior Ministry body tasked with combating terrorism were hit, although only the two bombers were killed. (AFP, Oct. 30)

Somaliland and Puntland have until now largely been spared embroilment in the chaotic warfare which has torn apart officially "government-controlled" Somalia, in the south of the country.

See our last post on Somalia.