Somali authorities have arrested an elderly Islamic cleric suspected of involvement in a wave of suicide attacks that killed more than 20 people, an official said on Thursday.
Sheik Mohamed Ismail was arrested in connection with five attacks on Wednesday in the breakaway republic of Somaliland and in Somalia’s Puntland region, said Muse Gelle Yusuf, a governor in Puntland.
He said several other people were being sought in connection with the attacks in the two areas, which have largely been spared the deadly violence of the south.
Ismail, believed to be in his 80s, was arrested on Wednesday, Yusuf said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, but the US says they had the signature of al-Qaeda.
The attacks targeted a UN compound, the Ethiopian consulate and the presidential palace in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa. Two intelligence facilities were hit in Puntland.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when clan warlords ousted longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The current government was formed in 2004 with the help of the UN.
Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies for almost two years.
Somalia’s north has tried to sever ties with the chaotic south, which includes the beleaguered capital, Mogadishu. Puntland has a semiautonomous administration, and Somaliland has long sought international recognition as being its own nation.
Mark Bowden, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, confirmed the death of two Somali UN staffers — a security officer and a driver — in the attack on the UN compound. Six other UN staffers were injured, two of whom evacuated to Djibouti for immediate medical attention.
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