Mogadishu/Paris  - A group of armed Somali men kidnapped six foreigners - four aid workers and two pilots - near the town of Dusamareb in central Somali on Wednesday, residents said.

Mohamoud Dhaqane, a businessman in Dusamareb, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the six were seized by a convoy of armed gunmen at an airstrip.

Mogadishu  - Somali armed men kidnapped six foreigners, including four aid workers and two airline pilots in near the town of Dusamareb in central Somali on Wednesday, residents said.

Mohamoud Dhaqane, a businessman in Dusamareb, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the six were taken when armed gunmen stormed the airstrip as they were due to depart for Nairobi.

There was some confusion over which organization they worked for.

Nairobi/Mogadishu - A prominent Muslim cleric has been arrested in connection with a wave of suicide bomb attacks in Somalia, reports said Thursday.

Five car bombs ripped through the breakaway Somaliland and Puntland regions on Wednesday, killing at least 26 people.

Most of the casualties came in Somaliland's capital Hargeysa, where bombs targeted the Ethiopian embassy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compound, and Somaliland's presidential palace.

Mogadishu - At least 25 people have been killed in a wave of suicide car bomb attacks in Somalia, hospital officials said Wednesday.

Five near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks, including one on an Ethiopian embassy and one on a United Nations compound, rocked the breakaway northern state of Somaliland and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.

Hospital officials in Somaliland told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that 25 people, including two foreigners, were killed in the bombings. Around 40 wounded were also being treated.

Witness Farhaan Omaye told dpa that three near-simultaneous bombs went off in in the town of Hargeysa, Somaliland in the morning.

Mogadishu - Five suicide bomb attacks, including one on an Ethiopian embassy and one on a UN compound, rocked Somalia Wednesday, witnesses said.

Witness Farhaan Omaye told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa that three near-simultaneous bombs went off in in Hargeysa, in the breakaway northern state of Somaliland.

The Ethiopian embassy and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compound were targeted, as was Somaliland's presidential palace.

Two other bombs exploded in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland at the offices of the Puntland Intelligence Service in the port town of Bosasso, witness Mohamed Ali told dpa.

There was no immediate information on casualties.

Mogadishu - Unknown Somali gunmen have killed a senior worke