The bloodshed is just one of the internal conflicts threatening a plan to stave off civil war and hold an election after President Ali Abdullah Saleh bowed to 10 months of protests demanding he step down.
It comes as the new prime minister attempts to form a government, in line with the deal brokered by Yemen’s wealthier Gulf neighbors under which Saleh agreed to step aside after a 33-year rule that also saw a civil war in the country’s south.
An official of the Salafis said Houthi fighters attacked his side early on Wednesday in Damaj, 150 km (90 miles) north of the capital Sanaa.
The official, Abu Ismail, spoke by telephone with explosions audible in the background, and said several students of the Dar Al-Hadith religious school affiliated with the Salafis had been injured in the fighting.
