SANAA, 29 January 2007 — Six government soldiers and a member of a Shiite rebel group were killed and as many as 29 others injured after clashes erupted between security forces and supporters of the group in northern Yemen, security and tribal sources said yesterday.
The fighting broke out late Saturday and continued until midday yesterday, the official Saba news agency quoted a security source as saying. He said that six soldiers were “martyred” and 20 injured.
The source said followers of the underground Believing Youth, a hard-line Shiite group based in the northern province of Saada near the border with Saudi Arabia, had initiated the battle by attacking military and police posts.
Tribal sources, however, said the fighting broke out after authorities sent armored military patrols to a remote area dominated by the rebels in Saada, some 230 km north of the capital Sanaa. They said at least one fighter was killed and nine others were injured in the shootout.
Abdullah bin Zaid, a tribal chieftain in Saada, said it was not clear what caused the clash. “The fighting is confined to the area. We do not expect it to spread to other parts of the province,” Abdullah told Arab News by telephone from Saada, adding that the skirmish was between a small group of followers of Badruddin Al-Houthi, a Shiite leader, and the army patrols. He said tribal dignitaries and local officials from Saada were trying to mediate a cease-fire.
Five soldiers and three followers of the Believing Youth were killed in tit-for-tat attacks in Saada last December. Government forces engaged in fierce battles in April 2006 with armed followers of Badruddin Al-Houthi, whom authorities have accused of leading the Believing Youth group.
