MOGADISHU: The death toll from an Al-Shabab attack on a hotel in central Somalia where clan leaders were meeting on Tuesday has risen to 10 and most of the victims were civilians, a police officer in the town said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, attackers from the Al-Qaeda-linked group struck the hotel in Beledweyne with a car bomb before its gunmen entered the hotel and engaged in a day-long siege with government forces trying to flush them out.
Clan elders from the Hiran region had gathered in the hotel for a meeting to discuss ways of countering Al-Shabab before the attack, which the Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for.
A clan elder had earlier put the death toll at seven.
“The siege was concluded last night at midnight. Four attackers blew themselves up and the other two attackers were shot dead,” Major Nur Aden, a police officer told Reuters from Beledweyne, which is also the region’s capital.
“Ten people died in the hospital including elders and soldiers, mostly civilians,” he said.
A resident who lives next to the hotel, Ahmed Ismail, said gunfire had died down at around midnight.
Al Shabab often conducts bomb and gun attacks in the fragile Horn of Africa nation as part of a campaign launched nearly two decades ago to topple the government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Al Shabab said in a statement its fighters had killed 20 people including soldiers and elders. It gave no details of its own casualties. The numbers it gives often differ from those of officials and residents.
Somalia hotel siege death toll rises to 10, officer says
https://arab.news/nkw3t
Somalia hotel siege death toll rises to 10, officer says
- Attackers from Al-Shabab struck the hotel in Beledweyne with a car bomb
Pakistan Embassy denies role in Kabul visa black market as Afghans turn to agents
- Arab News investigation earlier found how Afghans resort to tour agents, pay up to $1,800 to obtain Pakistani visas
- Any additional money charged by travel agents is ‘outside the purview’ of the embassy, spokesperson says
KABUL: The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul has rejected reports of knowledge of a black market for Pakistani visas, emphasizing its unwavering commitment to a fair and accessible visa system for Afghans.
An Arab News investigation published last month found Afghans resorting to tour agents and paying exorbitant prices to obtain Pakistani travel documents, with desperate applicants paying between $1,300 and $1,800 for visas that officially cost more than 50 times less.
In a rebuttal shared with Arab News, the Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul said it “has no official agents, intermediaries, or affiliated travel companies authorized to collect money” from visa applicants.
“The embassy’s official visa fee is published transparently and must be paid directly via credit card. We are aware that many applicants lack credit cards and often rely on local agents for assistance with the online payment,” Sayed Khizar Ali, the embassy’s press counsellor, said in a statement to Arab News.
“Our commitment to a transparent, fair, and accessible visa system for our Afghan brothers remains unwavering.”
Multiple travel agencies in Kabul and Nangarhar that earlier confirmed to Arab News that Pakistani visas are traded on the black market have maintained their statements.
“How can it be outside their control when we send applications and they come back approved within three days?” one manager of a travel agency who declined to be named told Arab News this week.
“The embassy stamps the visas. They know where they come from.”
He said his agency has been processing dozens of visas weekly since October, after tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan rose following a week of deadly clashes at their shared border.
“The travel agencies that are registered with them, we are the only way. If you don’t go through us, you won’t get a visa,” he said.
Despite the embassy’s denial that it does not work through travel agents, public advertisements by several tour agents offering services for “guaranteed” medical and tourist visas can be seen both online and on their storefronts. Though prices are negotiated privately, many openly promise quick turnarounds of just a few days.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment, despite repeated attempts by Arab News.
Pakistan’s visa fee for Afghan nationals is approximately $25, paid through a fully digital online system. But applicants who attempt to follow this channel told Arab News the process often ends in silent rejection after months of waiting.
Asma, an Afghan national who has been trying to join her fiance in Switzerland, had to go through tour agents to obtain her and her father’s Pakistan visas.
“I applied online through the official channel. That was four months ago. I never heard anything back. No response, no explanation — just complete silence,” Asma told Arab News earlier.
The cost to obtain the travel documents was double for her, as her father also had to apply in order to accompany her due to Afghanistan’s strict travel rules for unmarried women.
“We heard from neighbors that some agencies in Kabul could get it done faster … We went there,” she said, adding that they received their visas on WhatsApp three days later — not through official channels but through a cousin’s contact.
One agency employee who agreed to speak anonymously earlier described a system organized around waiting lists and contacts at the Pakistani Embassy and consulates in Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.
“We have lists. Each list works like seats on a plane. When one list is full, we start filling the next. Every day, a list goes out — meaning visas are issued daily,” he said.
“These days, no visa costs less than $1,300 and none exceed $1,800. This rate has been stable for over a month.”
However, the Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul maintained that these reports are “unfounded and most unfortunate.
“Any additional money these private agents may charge applicants is an illegal and unofficial practice that occurs entirely outside the purview and control of the embassy.”
