A wave of suicide bombings killed at least 28 people across northern Somalia today in five attacks that switched attention from talks taking place in neighbouring Kenya.
The car bombers struck as Somalia's interim government leaders met regional heads of state in Nairobi. The four-year-old administration is under pressure to solve the chaos and share some power with moderate opposition figures.
Twenty people died at Ethiopia's embassy in Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland, and at least five others were killed in synchronised blasts at the president's office and a UN Development Programme building.
At the same time, at least three more people died when two suicide car bombers wrecked an intelligence headquarters in Bosasso, in the neighbouring semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on Islamist al Shabaab insurgents who have often carried out attacks further south to coincide with international efforts to end turmoil in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
Washington, the Somali government and its military backer Ethiopia say the rebels are linked to al-Qaeda.
The attacks were made as leaders of the Western-backed interim government met regional heads of state for talks in Nairobi. The four-year-old administration is under pressure to end the chaos and share some power with moderate opposition figures.
The five east African heads of state gathered in Nairobi today expressed deep concern at the "near hopelessness of the existing situation" and said internal feuds in the government were the main cause of the deteriorating situation.
When the government and some opposition figures signed a peace pact at UN-led negotiations in Djibouti in August, Shabaab fighters seized the strategic southern port of Kismayu in battles that killed at least 70 people.
Violence in Somalia has killed nearly 10,000 civilians since the start of last year and forced more than a million from their homes.
Reuters