Three more soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in continued clashes with supporters of an extremist preacher holed out in Yemen’s rugged northern border area, local authorities said Tuesday. "Three members of the military police were killed and 13 others wounded Monday evening in and around Saada in armed clashes with supporters of Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi who is leading a rebellion," a local official said, requesting anonymity.
Huthi, a Zaidi preacher, and hundreds of his supporters have been besieged in Maran in Saada province, near the border with Saudi Arabia, for the last nine days. The fighting continued Tuesday in several areas around Huthi’s stronghold of Houti and Maran, where "a senior officer was seriously wounded," according to a tribal official. "The officer was hit with eight bullets in the Hidane region," to the east of Maran, added the tribal official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
| "Yez didn't hear it from me, see?" |
The army, backed up by security forces, was deployed on Monday evening with new reinforcements in Saada province where the situation is very tense.
| "They got guns, Mahmoud! Send reinforcements!" |
"Military operations will continue until we take the last hideout of Hussein al-Huthi and his supporters and put an end to the rebellion," an army officer said. Heavy fighting that broke out on June 18 in the region, some 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Sanaa, has left 67 dead, including 12 soldiers, while 61 militants, including the preacher’s brother Abdul Aziz, have been captured. Mediation efforts to end the fighting and secure Huthi’s surrender reached a deadlock when the preacher refused to negotiate. |