 Followers of a slain rebel preacher went on a shooting spree in a Yemeni town Friday after more than 70 comrades were killed in two days of fierce clashes with government forces, residents and tribal sources said. The fighting on Wednesday and Thursday, which ended with government forces taking control of rebel outposts in northwestern Saada Province, also left more than 30 soldiers and police dead or wounded, pro-government tribal sources said.
Residents of Saada town said members of the Faithful Youth movement sneaked into the city at dawn Friday and took over a number of buildings from which they sniped at army and police units, sparking shoot-outs that left at least eight rebels and four police dead. An undetermined number of civilians were also killed or wounded in the clashes. The shooting subsided at midday, but sources close to the town government said troops were hunting for some 60 rebels believed to be hiding in the city. Government forces were meanwhile still trying to track down followers of Sheikh Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi in mountain regions. "More than 70 [Huthi] followers were killed in the fighting which went on throughout Wednesday and until Thursday night" in Saada Province, where the two sides have been locked in combat since March 28, one tribal source said. "Their bodies were found in the mountain hideouts from which they had been resisting authorities," he said.
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The source said government forces suffered most of their casualties when counter-terrorism units parachuted onto mountain tops overlooking the rebels' strongholds in Razamat and Wadi Nushur (Nushur Valley) on Thursday. Government forces stormed rebel positions in Razamat, Wadi Nushur and Al-Shafia, wresting control of the outposts Thursday night. One tribal source said "troops are combing the area to hunt down the leaders of the rebellion, starting with Badr Eddin al-Huthi," father of the preacher killed by the army last year, who authorities say is the rebels' spiritual leader.
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Government forces are also trying to track down the ground commanders of the Faithful Youth rebels, chiefly Abdullah Ayedh al-Razami, Yussef al-Madani and the preacher's brother, Abdul Malak, after dozens of militants were reportedly rounded up. Military sources confirmed that government forces had seized control of rebel positions, saying the insurgents had retreated to Um Issa mountain and an area called Al-Salah. Apart from the undetermined number of government forces which fell in the clashes of the past two days, more than 190 people have now been reported killed in the fighting since it began 10 days ago. Dozens more have been wounded on both sides. |