MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Police killed two men suspected in the recent kidnappings of three foreigners during a fierce gunbattle Thursday in northern Somalia, witnesses and officials said.
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Puntland is generally considered safer than the war-wracked south, where government troops and their Ethiopian allies are battling an Islamic insurgency and thousands of Somalis have been killed this year.
But in recent months the two northern regions have seen an upsurge in piracy and kidnappings, and a border dispute has raised tensions.
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