SANAA: Twelve insurgents appeared before a state security court in Sanaa yesterday charged with battling government forces near the Yemeni capital last year in support of a rebellion in the northwestern part of the country.
The men, aged between 19 and 34, faced charges of “forming an armed gang to carry out sabotage, murder and bombing acts, and jeopardizing social safety and security,” according to the charge sheet.
Prosecutors said the group was among 190 insurgents captured by security forces during the battles that broke out in Bani-Hushaish last May and continued for nearly three months.
They said the accused were fighting government forces in Bani-Hushaish, some 30 km north of Sanaa, to support rebels battling the army in the northern province of Saada.
The Saada rebels are led by Abdul Malik Al-Houthi and are known as Houthis.
Prosecutors told the court that the defendants used heavy and light weapons in their fight that led to the killing of “a big number of army and police troopers as well as women and children.”
The defendants admitted being followers of Al-Houthi, but denied the other charges.
Tensions have been rising in recent months between the Houthis and the army in Saada, some 230 km north of Sanaa.
Sporadic but fierce clashes between the rebels and the army have left hundreds of soldiers and insurgents dead since the fighting erupted in June 2004.
