[Africa Review] A kaboom and a shoot-out between Islamists and troops from the 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 have left 31 people dead or maimed, officials say.
Fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
group attacked a military base and planted a roadside kaboom, the officials said.
Al-Shabaab fighters have reportedly moved to Puntland in recent months.
Their move comes as African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-backed government forces gain ground in their stronghold of southern Somalia.
In October, Al-Shabaab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, lost control of the key port city of Kismayu to AU troops, the Somali army and a pro-government militia.
Puntland Information minister Mohamed Aydid told the BBC Somali Service that a truck carrying soldiers was targeted by a roadside kaboom near Bossaso, the main commercial hub in the semi-autonomous region.
Ten soldiers were either killed or maimed in the attack, he said.