WASHINGTON — Security forces in Somalia say they killed all six attackers who laid siege to a hotel in the central town of Beledweyne and later killed at least 50 al-Shabab militants in airstrikes. Speaking to reporters, Beledweyne District Commissioner Omar Osman Alasow confirmed that the hotel siege ended early Wednesday. “Our security forces successfully got rid of six militants who attacked a hotel where traditional elders and security officials were meeting,” he said. Al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the hotel attack on Tuesday. Alasow said the government soldiers backed by African Union troops worked through the night to rescue elders, military officers and civilians trapped inside the hotel. “During 18 hours of siege, our brave soldiers shot dead two militants, and four of them desperately blew themselves up when they realized that they could not escape,” he said. “Seven other people, including government security officials and two prominent traditional elders, were killed.” Since August 2022, when Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called for a “total war” against al-Shabab, Beledweyne, a town near Somalia’s border with Ethiopia in Hirshabelle state, about 300 kilometers north of Mogadishu, has been the center of a local community mobilization against al-Shabab. The city has suffered more terrorist attacks than any other in Somalia except Mogadishu. Since 2009, hundreds of people have been killed in suicide attacks and car bombs on hotels, restaurants and government bases. The single biggest attack, in 2009, killed at least 25 people and injured 60 others. Airstrikes kill 50 militants Hours after ending this week’s hotel siege, Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, or NISA, said the country’s security forces killed dozens of al-Shabab members elsewhere in Hirshabelle. “Coordinated airstrikes by the Somali army and international partners in the Middle Shabelle region have killed at least 50 al-Shabab militants, including senior leader in charge of the coordination of the group’s combat vehicles,” the NISA statement said. NISA said the airstrikes targeted the Damasha and Shabeelow areas and killed Mansoor Tima-Weeyne, a senior al-Shabab leader who masterminded the preparation and use of combat vehicles for terrorist attacks. In a separate statement, the Somali Military Command said, “The operation was a significant blow to the group's combat capabilities and part of ongoing efforts to weaken terrorism in the region.” Media outlets closed On another counterterrorism front, NISA said Wednesday that it closed 12 media outlets and websites linked to the Khawarij, a derogatory term referring to al-Shabab that loosely translates as “those who deviate from the Islamic faith.” This latest announcement followed another crackdown on over 30 al-Shabab-related websites. “The operation targeted platforms spreading extremist ideologies, inciting violence, and disseminating false information. During the operation the government seized critical data and identified individuals involved,” said a statement posted by the government’s National News Agency.

ISLAMABAD — Militants attacked a cross-country passenger train Tuesday in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, taking many hostages. Authorities say the Jaffar Express was traveling north from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when it came under intense fire hours after departure. The train was carrying roughly 450 passengers, including security personnel. Citing security sources, state broadcaster PTV reported militants were holding passengers hostage in the train, which was trapped inside a tunnel. A clearance operation was ongoing. The Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement to media, the banned separatist militant outfit said it had blown up tracks and taken passengers hostage. Emergency situation Earlier, Pakistan Railways officials confirmed to VOA that the train driver had been injured. “Mobile and wireless signals are not working, and unfortunately we are not able to get in touch with the crew,” railway deputy controller Muhammad Sharifullah in Quetta told VOA. Provincial spokesperson Shahid Rind said security forces, a rescue train and ambulances had been dispatched. Located in barren, mountainous terrain, the scene of the attack is hard to reach. An emergency has been declared at the government hospital in Sibbi to receive the injured. BLA surges According to the Global Terrorism Index 2025 released last week, Pakistan experienced a 45% increase in terrorism deaths last year, compared with 2023. That is the largest year-to-year rise in more than a decade. The BLA emerged as one of the top two militant groups driving the increase. The separatist group has been fighting a deadly insurgency against the Pakistani state, accusing the government of robbing the province of its rich natural resources. The group also opposes Chinese investment in the province. Pakistan and China reject the claims that their joint ventures are depriving ethnic Baloch from economic opportunities and their share of the province's mineral wealth. Recent attacks Since the beginning of the year, the BLA has ramped up attacks on security forces and settlers and workers primarily from the eastern Punjab province. Earlier this month, a female suicide bomber detonated her explosive devices near a military convoy in Balochistan’s Kalat district, killing at least one security personnel and injuring four others. Last month, BLA insurgents ambushed a bus transporting paramilitary forces in Kalat and killed 18 of those on board. Just days later, a roadside bomb blast killed 11 coal miners in the city while the BLA took credit for attacking a military vehicle securing a supply convoy for a mining company operated by China. Pakistani authorities reported that the convoy was passing through Kalat when it came under attack, resulting in injuries to eight security personnel. VOA’s Urdu Service’s Murtaza Zehri in Quetta contributed to this report.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — Haiti is facing a "humanitarian catastrophe" as it reels from a surge in violence that is forcing people from their homes and pushing overstretched health facilities to the brink, Doctors Without Borders said Thursday. The crisis-torn Caribbean nation has seen new unrest in recent weeks as gangs battle police for territory, leading United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups to warn last month of a "wave of extreme brutality" sweeping the country. The fighting has left civilians trapped in the crossfire, overwhelmed hospitals and raised fears of a new cholera epidemic in a nation devastated by the disease in the 2010s, said Doctors Without Borders, which is also known by its French initialism, RSF. Last week, the medical aid group's teams treated 90 victims of violence — double the usual number — at its emergency center in the Turgeau neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince, it said. Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, was plunged into fresh unrest last year when gangs launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince to force then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign. The interim government and a Kenya-led U.N. force have struggled to restore order. Armed groups control 85% of the capital, according to UNICEF. With an estimated 1 million people forced from their homes by violence, there are fears of disease outbreaks in makeshift camps for the displaced. "The scale of this crisis far exceeds what MSF can respond to alone," the group's mission chief in Haiti, Christophe Garnier, said in a statement. With the rainy season approaching, sanitation conditions are worsening, MSF said. "Without urgent action, the situation will turn into a humanitarian catastrophe," said Garnier.

WASHINGTON — One month ago, on the morning of Feb. 4, forces from Somalia’s Puntland region attacked Islamic State terror group fighters, who responded with drones, suicide attacks and infantry charges. Regional officials said 15 soldiers were killed in the fighting near the village of Qurac. But hours later, the terrorist fighters were forced to vacate their positions, leaving behind at least 57 of their dead. The following week, the Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or Daesh, carried out a major counterattack, sending multiple suicide bombers and a wave of fighters against Somali forces in the Togjaceel valley, in Puntland’s Cal Miskaad mountains. Regional officials say the gun battle resulted in some 100 fatalities — 28 soldiers and more than 70 militants. But again, IS fighters had to retreat, and soon lost three bases to the Puntland forces. The battles are part of a recent offensive against Islamic State fighters holed up in the mountains of semi-autonomous Puntland. Observers say the success, while most certainly welcome, came somewhat as a surprise. Military commanders had expected that as they got closer to the area’s main IS strongholds of Shebaab, Dhaadaar and Dhasaan, that the terror group would fight hard and launch frequent counterattacks. But that has not been the case. The Puntland forces have been capturing caves and small villages one after the other, and they have routed IS from the strategic 40-kilometer-long Togjaceel Valley, from Turmasaale to Dhasaan. Somali officials told VOA it appears that the IS fighters, rather than trying to hold their positions, have fled, breaking into three groups, all headed in different directions. About 100 IS fighters, along with some family members, have sought to escape to Karinka Qandala, another mountainous area to the north of the group’s former stronghold in the Togjaceel Valley. Two larger groups fled to Tog Miraale and Tog Curaar, to the west and northwest. The group that went northwest, according to officials, was hit by airstrikes in the vicinity of Miraale Village. “Intelligence assessments indicate a high likelihood of attempts to establish new safe havens following their retreat,” according to Brigadier General Ahmed Abdullahi Sheikh, the former commander of Somalia’s U.S.-trained Danab forces. “The offensive, though appearing conventional, has consistently involved guerilla tactics,” said Sheikh, who has been closely following the offensive in his home region. “The Togjaceel Valley defeat will likely drive ISIS to intensify asymmetric warfare, launching an attempt on irregular campaign against Puntland.” Sheikh said he believes Puntland’s counterterrorism force has the numbers and the resources to carry out a protracted conflict with IS. The United Arab Emirates has been providing air support, including airstrikes against the militants. The United States also carried out two rounds of airstrikes targeting IS last month. The U.S. strikes are thought to have killed 16 militants, including Ahmed Maeleninine, described by U.S. officials as a “recruiter, financier and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.” The Pentagon declined comment when asked about the apparent IS retreat. But a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing operation, indicated Washington is prepared to potentially lend additional help. “The Department remains committed to supporting our partners in our shared efforts to disrupt, degrade and defeat terrorist organizations in the Horn of Africa,” the official told VOA. Other observers said the “persistent” pressure by the Somali forces, along with help from the U.S. and UAE, appears to be paying off. “Indications [are] that the Puntland forces are making real progress against ISIS in Somalia’s hideouts,” a former senior Western counterterrorism official told VOA, requesting anonymity to discuss the ongoing developments. “The question is whether they [the Puntland forces] will be able to continue to hold the captured hideouts, or whether ISIS will be able to return in the coming weeks and months,” the official said. If the Somali forces are able to hold the captured territory, though, the damage to the terror group could extend well beyond Somalia’s borders. “Given the central role of the al-Karrar office in financing the wider ISIS network, there could be some knock-on impact,” said the former Western counterterrorism official. Al-Karrar is one of nine regional Islamic State offices established to help sustain the terror group’s capabilities. Since 2022, the office has been a key cog in the terror group’s financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa. Concerns, however, remain. Regional security analysts warn IS could regroup if Puntland’s counterterrorism forces are unable to maintain their pursuit. “Their mobile special forces have been the pointed end of the spear,” said Samira Gaid, a Horn of Africa security analyst. “For the moment, it appears that the Puntland forces are committed and well resourced,” she told VOA. “However, much will depend on the Puntland forces then securing and manning the territories it will liberate to ensure the group does not make a comeback.” As for IS, the terror group is “attempting to melt into the population, though this is difficult,” said Gaid. “It’s the natural progression when faced by a force that is superior.” The tactic also may have bought IS time to hide some of its most prominent and most important leaders. Somali forces have found no trace of Abdul Qadir Mumin, thought to lead not just IS-Somalia but the entire IS terror operation. IS-Somalia operational commander Abdirahman Fahiye Isse and IS-Somalia finance chief Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf are also in hiding. Somali officials have nonetheless appealed to them, and to Fahiye in particular, to surrender. “The people whom you think will give you a sanctuary are guiding the army,” Puntland military commander General Adan Abdihashi said after capturing Mumin’s headquarters on March 1. “Don’t put young people in harm’s way,” Abdihashi said. “I swear to God, you will get the punishment you deserve.” Said Abdullahi Deni, Puntland region’s leader, has also offered IS members in Somalia, including women and children, a chance to surrender and for foreign fighters to possibly even return to their countries of origin. “They [IS] envisioned it as a place where they cannot be seen, strategically a tough place, and gives them access to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Gulf,” he said. But he has warned Puntland’s forces are prepared to hunt and eliminate remnants of the terror group “until all terrorists, their movement and their bases are eliminated.” Various estimates from Somali and Western counterterrorism officials put the number of IS fighters in Somalia at up to 1,600, bolstered by an influx of fighters from Ethiopia, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania and Yemen. Experts such as Samira Gaid said IS-Somalia’s growing numbers combined with the difficult terrain in Puntland’s mountains may have led to overconfidence. “The miscalculation to face the Puntland forces seemed to have been their folly,” she said, adding that about 500 IS fighters have been killed in the recent fighting. IS-Somalia has suffered “grave losses,” Gaid said, “and will most likely not be recovering in the short to medium term.” This story is a collaboration between VOA’s Africa Division and the News Center.

WASHINGTON — The United States imposed sanctions on Wednesday on seven senior members of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, the Treasury Department said. The men smuggled military-grade items and weapon systems into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and negotiated buying weapons from Russia, the Treasury Department said in a statement. It also designated Abdulwali Abdoh Hasan Al-Jabri and his company Al-Jabri General Trading and Investment Company for recruiting Yemenis to fight in Ukraine on behalf of Russia and raising money to support Houthi military operations. “The U.S. government is committed to holding the Houthis accountable for acquiring weapons and weapons components from suppliers in Russia, China and Iran to threaten Red Sea security,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. On Tuesday, the State Department said it was implementing the designation of the Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization” after President Donald Trump called for the move earlier this year. The move, however, triggered concerns it could affect regional security and worsen Yemen's humanitarian crisis because importers fear being hit with U.S. sanctions if supplies fall into Houthi hands.