SANAA, 22 June 2004 — Two Yemeni soldiers were killed and five wounded in clashes with followers of a radical cleric near the Saudi border, a local official said yesterday. The official in Saada, asking not to be named, said the clashes took place on Sunday in the province some 250 kilometers north of the capital, pitting the army against supporters of Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi.
Heavy weapons were used, he said, adding that the army imposed a ring around the Maran region where hundreds of supporters of the activist are based.
Yemeni military forces launched yesterday a wide-scale hunt in a northern mountainous area for the cleric, tribal sources said.
Troops were deployed in the Maran district in pursuit of Al-Houthi, a tribal source told Deutsche Press-Agentur.
“We hear sporadic gunfire in the area,” said the source, adding that the wanted cleric was hiding in the rugged area along with an unspecified number of his supporters.
Meanwhile, three people were killed in armed clashes between two rival tribes in the in the northeast of Yemen, tribal sources said. The shootout took place when tribesmen belonging to the Magzar clan of the eastern province of Marib ambushed men from the rival Al-Ghail tribe of the neighboring Al-Jawf province, on a highway linking the two provinces.
The two sides used machine-guns in the fierce fighting, which is part of a running vendetta between the two tribes, said the sources. Two other people were also injured in the clashes.
