A suspected US air strike has targeted a base run by Islamic State-affiliated fighters in Somalia's northern state of Puntland, according to a security official.

Five men have been arrested in Somalia in connection with the kidnapping of a British journalist and Spanish photographer last week.

At least 19 people died in a series of suicide bombings across northern Somalia which included a UN compound today.

A French journalist abducted by Somali gunmen was released today, eight days after he was seized in the northern part of the country, police said.

AFGHAN troops opened fire on demonstrators yesterday, leaving at least four dead, while Iranian police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters hurling stones and firebombs at the Danish Embassy, in Tehran, as anger mounted over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.