Muslim cleric arrested in Somali bombings

BOSASSO, Somalia, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Police said Thursday they arrested a top Muslim cleric in the breakaway Somalia region of Puntland for ties to car bombings that killed at least 29 people.

Sheik Mohamed Ismail was arrested in a raid of his home outside the port city of Bosasso, the de facto capital of Puntland's Bari administrative region. His arrest was part of an ongoing investigation of five synchronized suicide car bombings Wednesday in the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions, the BBC reported.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but U.S. officials said they believed the car bombings were carried out by militants linked to and trained by al-Qaida.

These were the first suicide attacks in the two relatively stable regions, the BBC reported.

Puntland is a region in northeastern Somalia whose leaders declared autonomy from Somalia in 1998. Unlike neighboring Somaliland, it does not seek outright independence.

Most of the casualties were in Hargeisa, where the presidential palace, Ethiopian consulate and United Nations offices were targeted.

Hargeisa is the largest city in Somaliland and the second largest city in Somalia after Mogadishu, the nation's capital. Foreign workers in Hargeisa were being evacuated, the BBC said.