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| Arabia |
| Saleh tells al-Huthi to hang it up |
| 2004-07-05 |
| Government forces closed in Monday on an extremist Yemeni preacher and his supporters holed up in a mountainous northern region, killing 35 insurgents, including their field commander, military sources said. Another 60 rebels were wounded in the latest fierce clashes with the army that broke out late Sunday, the sources said. The rebels’ field commander, Emireddin Abdul Majid al-Hamzi, alias Abdul Muttaleb, was among those killed in the latest round, they said. The new deaths raised to at least 166 the number of people killed in the fighting between supporters of cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi and government forces that broke out on June 18 in Saada province, near the Saudi border. The latest fatalities included 41 soldiers. That number was expected to rise following the overnight clashes, according to the military sources at the scene. Battles were still raging at midday Monday in Maran, where the noose was tightening around Huthi and his supporters, said the sources, reached by telephone from Sanaa. Army troops seized three outposts in Jaria, Harban and Malhat, isolating the insurgents in Jumeima in Maran’s rugged mountains, the sources said. "The troops are one kilometer (less than a mile) from Jumeima," one source said. Army and police forces deployed reinforcements around the stronghold of the self-styled "Emir al-Mumineen", or Prince of Believers, after the failure on June 28 of a mediation bid initiated by authorities to secure his surrender. In remarks published Sunday, President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Huthi to turn himself in, promising him a fair trial. "I call on you to surrender and I guarantee a fair process in the accusations against you," Saleh was quoted by local media as saying during a meeting with religious officials, who he said could appoint "a lawyer to defend Huthi." The president said he wanted to bring an end to the bloodshed. Security sources said on Sunday that more than 200 extremists had been captured. Dozens of Huthi’s supporters, accompanied by tribal leaders of regions bordering Maran, turned themselves in early Sunday after violent fighting at dawn, local officials said. Officials also said that dozens of people who had infiltrated Maran’s rugged mountains to join Huthi’s rebellion were arrested on Saturday. Huthi, who served as an MP in Yemen’s parliament from 1993 to 1997, enjoys the support of up to 3,000 armed rebels, according to activists close to the preacher. According to Saleh, the Zaidi preacher heads the extremist "Faithful Youth" organization, formed in 1997 as a breakaway from the Islamist opposition movement Al-Haq. Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi said the group was initially formed in Saada without authorization and spread to other provinces before becoming a secret armed movement with some of its members earning 200 dollars a month. Saleh said the campaign was not targeting the Zaidi sect but only Huthi and his supporters. However, one lawmaker involved in unsuccessful mediation efforts accused elements of the army of undermining efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |