| Large numbers of Yemeni troops Tuesday laid siege to hundreds of supporters of a firebrand preacher after overnight fighting left two soldiers dead and five wounded near the Saudi border, tribal sources said. The army fired heavy weapons in the overnight clashes as the battle raged in three areas of Saada province where several civilians also died, the sources said. An interior ministry statement confirmed the army casualties in the Maran area. Armed partisans of Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi also came out in force in two other locations in Saada, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of the capital, the sources said. Yemeni authorities accuse Huthi of stirring trouble by organising anti-US demonstrations after weekly Muslim prayers on Fridays. His supporters are "outlaws... extremists and trouble-makers," the ministry charged vowing that they would be brought to justice. "They have opened fire on government institutions, police pickets and roughed up students to stop them from going to school," it added. |