8/5/2004 11:10:00 AM GMT
Source: Reuters
At least 40 people were killed and scores more wounded in overnight fierce fighting between Yemeni forces and anti-U.S. rebels, security sources said on Thursday.
They said clashes between the army and followers of Hussein al-Houthi erupted again on Wednesday after a weeks-long lull, when efforts to mediate an end to the fighting failed.
The fighting, in the northern mountainous province of Saada, began after the government started a series of attacks against Houthi and his supporters on June 20.
The sources did not give a certain figure for Wednesday's casualties. Officials say that at least 179 people have so far been killed since June 20, but Houthi's supporters put the death toll at more than 200.
The government accuses Houthi of establishing unlicensed religious centers and of forming an armed group which is against the United States and Israel.
The Yemeni government has offered a $54,000 bounty reward for his capture.
Government sources said hundreds of Houthi supporters have been wounded, captured or surrendered to authorities in Saada, 150 miles, north of the capital Sanaa.
Anti-U.S. sentiment is high in Yemen and other countries in the Middle East over the presence of U.S. occupation troops in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Yemen, a poor country of some 19 million people, is also fighting to rein in rebels linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Houthi has not been accused of links to the group.