SANAA, 7 April 2005 — Fierce clashes broke out again yesterday between followers of a radical preacher and government forces in northern Yemen after efforts exerted by tribal chieftains to mediate an end to the standoff failed.
Tribal sources in the northern province of Saada said military forces surrounding remote mountainous areas resumed bombardment on hideouts of the preacher Badruddin Al-Houthi, whom the government blames for violence in the province.
More than 30 people were killed or wounded yesterday as heavy fighting pitted army troops and counter-terrorism units against the rebels the Al-Shafia and Wadi Nushur (Nushur Valley) areas of Saada province, military and tribal sources said.
Meanwhile, the deputy governor of Saada, Hassan Mannaa, escaped an ambush laid by the rebels in the town of Saada yesterday, a source close to Mannaa said. But five of his bodyguards were seriously wounded when his car came under fire.
The fighting was resumed after mediators appointed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh failed to secure the surrender of Badruddin Al-Houthi and his armed followers who are holed up in mountainous hideouts in Saada, 250 kilometers north of the capital Sanaa.
Local officials in Saada said the mediation team, headed by Sheikh Saleh ibn Shajaa negotiated on Monday with Abdullah Eyda Al-Ruzami, a close aide to Al-Houthi. They said Al-Ruzami refused to turn himself in to authorities or abandon Al-Houthi.
The government has blamed Badruddin Al-Houthi, father of the slain cleric Hussein Al-Houthi, for the fresh round of clashes in Saada on the borders with Saudi Arabia.
Violent clashes between followers of Al-Houthi and military forces in Saada have left around 100 people killed since the fighting renewed on March 28, after officials said members of Al-Houthi’s Believing Youth group attacked military and police posts.
Clashes first erupted last June and ended with the death of Hussein Al-Houthi on Sept. 10. The first round of fighting that lasted for more than ten weeks left at least 400 soldiers and rebels dead.
