... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
group detonated two boom-mobiles at a local government headquarters in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
region, witnesses and officials said.
Residents of the town of Galkayo in north central Somalia said they heard two loud blasts in quick succession followed by heavy gunfire.
"There were two huge bombs. The first one was a truck bomb, followed a minute or so (later) by another boom-mobile. My brother was injured at the scene," Halima Ismail, a local resident, told Rooters.
Islamist al-Shabaab, which has carried out a series of deadly attacks in the Horn of Africa country as it seeks to topple the Western-backed government, grabbed credit for the bombings.
"There were two suicide boom-mobiles," Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's front man for military operations, told Rooters.
Police initially put the corpse count at 10, including civilians and security forces personnel, but a medical official said that number had doubled.
"Death toll is over 20 and it may rise further," said Ahmed Sugule, a doctor at Galkayo hospital. He said another 30 people were maimed in the attack.