The head of military operations in Saada province, Gen. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Qussi, said he himself came under rebel attack. "I escaped an assassination attempt by the rebels who opened fire on my car," Qussi told AFP.
"The rebels broke the cease-fire and carried out a series of attacks in Iqab district which resulted in dead and wounded among our troops," Qussi added.
Another military source said three soldiers were killed in Iqab and a fourth in Al-Ain district, in the south of Saada province, where the rebels are based, and that several soldiers were wounded.
"The rebels have broken the cease-fire in several places in Saada province," he said.
They were the first reports of violations of the cease-fire between the government and the rebels that came into force at midnight (2100 GMT Thursday) in a bid to end six years of on-off fighting.
There was no immediate comment from the rebels.
Earlier, army commanders had reported a halt to clashes across the rugged northern mountains after rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi ordered his fighters to respect the truce announced by President Ali Abdullah Saleh late Thursday.
"Calm reigns on all fronts from Saada and Malahidh (in the far north near the Saudi border) to Harf Sufian," further south, one field commander said earlier Friday.
Commanders had said they had seen rebel fighters start work on removing the roadblocks they have maintained on some of the trunk routes through the northern mountains blocking government traffic.
But in a sign of the distrust still felt by some within the army after six years of conflict, one officer said he was waiting to see whether the rebels really respected the truce. "We are holding our positions and keeping our fingers on the trigger," the officer said, asking not to be named.
On Thursday, an official said that 12 soldiers and 24 rebels had been killed in heavy clashes in Amran province, north of the capital. That fighting erupted after a sudden rebel attack in Burkat Al-Shamsi district late Wednesday.
Separate clashes broke out around the same time in the Al-Uqab suburb of Saada town, killing seven soldiers and 11 rebels.
The six-point truce requires the rebels to reopen three major routes in the first stage of implementation: the road between Saada, Harf Sufian and the capital Sanaa; the road from Saada west to Malahidh; and the road from Saada east to Al-Jawf.
It also calls for a rebel withdrawal from government buildings, the return of weapons seized from security forces, the release of all prisoners including Saudis, handover of captured army posts, and a pledge not to attack Saudi Arabia.
