Authorities in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland on Saturday warned outsiders without legitimate business there to leave immediately following the arrests of several alleged Al-Qaeda operatives.
In a crackdown ordered after the arrests of five suspected members of Osama bin Laden's network during a shootout with police on Friday, Interior Minister Ishmail Aden said non-Somalilanders illegally in the region would be deported.
"Those who have commercial interest here may stay as long as they respect the laws of the land but others must leave as soon as possible," he told a news conference. "This is strictly a security issue."
"The activities of outsiders and suspect (Somalilanders) will be scrutinized further for security purposes," Aden said, adding police in the region had arrested a total of five alleged Al-Qaeda members on Friday.
On Friday, he said three suspected extremists, including "an internationally known" Afghan-trained Al-Qaeda leader, had been detained after police raids in the capital Hargeisa that followed tips from local residents.
Three police officers were wounded in the shootout and Aden had said he would identify the suspects on Saturday but declined to do so while telling reporters that all five detainees were cooperating with police.
Hargeisa's Ogal daily newspaper, meanwhile, said at least 100 people had been detained for questioning after the raid, but added that many had been released.
Aden said the suspects had been plotting attacks in Somaliland on local leaders and foreigners ahead of elections scheduled for September 29 in the internationally unrecognized breakaway state.
He said police had recovered a large cache of weapons and communications equipment from the men, many of which were displayed by state-run television on Saturday.
Somaliland's self-styled president Dahir Riyale Kahin said Saturday that the suspected terrorists, who he claimed were based in Mogadishu, were extremely dangerous and praised the work of the security forces.
"The terrorists who planned to wage attacks in Somaliland are trained and facilitated from Mogadishu," he said. "These terrorists are dangerous and planned serious attacks but their attempt was foiled by our people in uniform."
Kahin said the men had arrived from Mogadishu separately and had been discovered just a day after renting a house in Hargeisa from where they intended to plan and carry out attacks.
"I congratulate our security forces for the heroic operation they fulfilled by arresting these terrorists," he said, appealing for international assistance to help prevent extremist attacks there.
Somaliland, in northwestern Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of the country after the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the Horn of Africa nation into anarchy.
It is not internationally recognized but is seen widely as an island of relative stability in the lawless country which Western intelligence agencies fear has become a haven for Muslim extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda.
In July, a respected international policy think tank said a group of Al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters led by an Afghan-trained militia leader had secured a foothold in Mogadishu and threatened to push Somalia deeper into anarchy.
"The threat of jihadi terrorism in and from Somalia is real," the International Crisis Group said in a report that described the group as "a new, ruthless and independent network with links to Al-Qaeda."