Yemen: Govt. Troops killed in Shiite rebellion

A glimpse into conflicts that are off radar in mainstream press.

Forty-two Yemeni army and police troops have been killed and 81 injured since clashes renewed with Shiite rebel fighters in the country's northern province of Saada, a senior security official said on Monday.

Head of the National Security Agency, Ali Muhammad al-Anessi, told the Shura Council, the upper chamber of parliament, the deaths resulted from attacks by followers of Shiite rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi on military posts in Saada, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Houthi and scores of his backers had been engaged in a standoff with army forces in the province, some 230 kilometres north of the Yemeni capital Sana'a, since armed confrontations between the two sides renewed on December 27.

Anessi, who is also the secretary of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the military deaths included officers, but he did not give a breakdown.

The Yemeni official said the rebels had purchased a "huge quantity of light, medium and heavy weapons."

He added that they had built fortified locations in remote areas of Saada in preparation for a battle with the army.

Central authorities in Sana'a last week sent hundreds of troops backed by tanks and artillery to Saada to launch a major onslaught on the rebels if the rebels do not surrender.

President Saleh has reportedly postponed the major attack after tribal and religious figures intervened and called for a peaceful settlement.

Last week, Saleh warned the rebels they could face a military campaign if they do not lay down their arms.

Officials have accused Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, a son of prominent Shiite cleric Badruddin al-Houthi, of leading remnants of the outlawed Believing Youth group, which was established by his elder brother Hussein al-Houthi in 2004.

Well-armed Houthis have repeatedly been involved in bloody confrontations with government forces in Saada since their slain leader Hussein declared a rebellion early in 2004.

Government forces engaged in fierce battles in April 2006 with armed followers of the hardline group that officials said was inciting violence against the United States and Israel.

In May 2006, President Saleh announced a general amnesty for the Houthis after government forces crushed their rebellion, first initiated by the group's founder Hussein al-Houthi, and captured their mountain strongholds in Saada.

Hussein al-Houthi was killed by the army in September 2004.

Some 525 troops and hundreds of rebels were killed in fighting in 2006 that followed the first three-month revolt that left more than 400 insurgents and troops dead.

Anessi, the national security chief, told MPs the two previous waves of fighting with Houthis in 2004 and 2006 left 727 government troops killed and 5,296 injured.

© 2007 DPA