SANAA, 7 April 2008 — At least 18 people were killed and several others injured in clashes between fighters loyal to rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi and pro-government tribesmen in northern Yemen, tribal sources and residents said yesterday.

The clashes broke out Saturday between members of the Al-Bukhtan tribe and the rebels in the Al-Salem area of Saada province that has been the scene of skirmishes between the rebels and the army for the past three years, the sources said.

The Al-Bukhtan accuse the rebels of killing a pro-government chieftain from the tribe last year, the sources said.

Government forces positioned in the area did not intervene to put an end to the clashes that continued yesterday.

Tribal sources said six members of the Al-Bukhtan were killed in the fighting. At least 12 rebels were also killed, according to one tribal source. Sources from the rebel group were not immediately available for comment.

In an apparently unrelated attack, rebel fighters partially destroyed the vacant house of the top rabbi in Yemen.

“The Houthis destroyed part of my house and looted it,” Yehia Youssuf said in Sanaa. The rabbi said all 67 members of the Jewish community in the northern province of Saada fled following threats from the Houthis.

Some locals have said the Jews were threatened because they had been selling wine to local Muslims. The Jews deny those accusations.

The fighting took place as Qatari mediators were attending talks between rebel and government representatives in Saada to implement a Qatari-sponsored deal that ended the army-rebel hostilities in the region last June.

Under the cease-fire deal, authorities and the rebels agreed that the cease-fire would be followed by a general amnesty for members of the outlawed rebel movement fighting in Saada for nearly three years. The agreement provides that Al-Houthi and his two brothers would be allowed to live in exile in Qatar.

Tens of thousands of army troops were deployed in Saada to crush a revolt that originally began after Shiite cleric Hussein Al-Houthi, the elder brother of Abdul-Malik, established the movement in March 2004. Hussein was killed by the army in September the same year.

Waves of violent clashes since mid-2004 have left hundreds of government troops and rebels dead, and displaced thousands of civilians from Saada.