Unidentified attackers hurled hand grenades and opened fire at a police station in Somalia's northern breakaway enclave of Somaliland, wounding three officers, police sources said today.

Somaliland is proud of its relative stability, unlike southern regions of the failed Horn of Africa state, where hardline al Shabaab insurgents control large amounts of territory and are fighting a weak Western-backed government.

Somaliland police sources told Reuters than an unknown number of attackers threw two grenades at the police station in Las Anod, near the border with Puntland, late on Tuesday before opening fire on the building with assault rifles.

Three policemen on duty there were wounded, two of them seriously, hospital staff said.

The police sources said the town was placed under curfew overnight with extra patrols, and that officers later found a Toyota pickup truck believed to have been used by the gunmen.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

source: Reuters