SANAA: At least 210 people have been killed in two months of fighting between Houthis and Salafis in northern Yemen, a Salafi spokesman said on Monday.

The violence erupted on Oct. 30 when the Houthi rebels who control much of the northern Saada province accused Salafis in the town of Damaj of recruiting thousands of foreign fighters to prepare to attack them.

The Salafis say the foreigners are students seeking to deepen their knowledge of Islam in the town’s Dar Al-Hadith seminary.

Surour Al-Wadi’i, a Salafi spokesman, said the death toll among Salafis had risen to 210, with 620 wounded. A spokesman for the Houthis, Ali Al-Bakhity, said no casualty figures were available for the Houthis. Fighting between the two sides in Saada and adjacent provinces stopped as a cease-fire deal took hold on Saturday.

Several previous cease-fires have failed. The latest deal includes an agreement by the Salafis to leave Damaj and move to the town of Hadida and stipulates that the foreign students should go home, according to the cease-fire document seen by Reuters.