SANAA, 3 April 2005 — Army troops killed at least 20 rebels in an overnight offensive on their mountain hideouts in northern Yemen, as clashes went on for the sixth day yesterday, tribal sources said. The latest fatalities take the toll to around 100 on both sides since fighting erupted on Monday. Dozens more have been wounded.
The army used tanks and artillery to bombard strongholds of armed militants loyal to hard-line preacher Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi, who was killed in clashes with government forces in September 2004, they said.
Security forces have now advanced some 25 km from Wadi Nushoor, a rebel stronghold 50 km from Saada city. They have surrounded many rebel positions in the area to pressure Al-Houthi’s followers to surrender, the Saba news agency reported yesterday quoting an official in Saada.
The massive strike followed two attacks Friday on a military post and a checkpoint by Al-Houthi’s followers in Saada, 250 km north of Sanaa.
Six soldiers and three insurgents were killed in a heavy exchange of fire that followed the two attacks, security officials said, adding that 13 soldiers were wounded.
Yussef Al-Madani, a lieutenant of the slain preacher and one of three men leading the rebels, has also been wounded, a member of his group said, without saying when.
Tribal sources said the bombardment on Nushoor continued yesterday, but no casualties were reported.
The clashes are the most serious since the government announced last September that the army had killed Al-Houthi, nearly three months after he started the rebellion.
The uprising, near the border with Saudi Arabia, triggered clashes that lasted for more than ten weeks and left at least 400 people dead and many wounded.
Authorities in Sanaa has blamed Badruddin Al-Houthi, father of the slain scholar, for the fresh round of violence. President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered local officials and tribal dignitaries on Friday to launch mediation efforts in a bid to end the fighting and convince the rebels to turn themselves in to authorities.