SANAA, 11 September 2004 — Troops yesterday killed the radical cleric Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi, bringing to an end his ten-week insurrection in northern mountains of Yemen that left more than 400 dead.
Authorities said the Shiite preacher was killed in an early morning battle with troops in the mountainous Marran district of Saada province, 250 km north of Sanaa.
“Today all military and security operations, that aimed at crushing the rebellion led by Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi and those who supported him, were concluded after the killing of the rebellion’s leader,” said a joint statement by the Defense and Interior Ministries.
A Defense Ministry source told Arab News that 20 henchmen of the cleric were also killed in the battle, adding that the body of Houthi was found in a cave bombarded by the army.
Houthi’s insurgency began June 21, when security forces tried to arrest him. Since then, the government has unleashed a massive operation using tanks, artillery and aircraft to pound the armed followers of Houthi in their fortified mountain lairs.
Unspecified number of Houthi’s followers surrendered to government forces, according to the statement, that said the forces had captured all strongholds of the cleric in Marran.
Following the death of Houthi, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered his Cabinet to form a ministerial committee to assess damages and help reconstruct the area, said the statement.
The statement appealed to local residents, who were forced to flee the area during the fighting, to return home. It also urged clerics in Saada not to “incite young people, to shun all types of extremism and to take part in developing the country.”
