Yemeni army forces have killed 25 supporters of an anti-US preacher in battles within the past two days as government offered a $75,500 reward for the capture of the fugitive religious leader, a state-run newspaper reported on Saturday.
| They keep describing him as an anti-US preacher. He doesn't sound like he's too hot for Yemen, either, at least not as it's presently constituted... |
The defence ministry publication 26 September said 25 followers of the Shi'ite cleric Hussein Badruddin al-Houthi were killed and nearly 50 others injured in the latest attacks on their strongholds in the northern Saada province. An army soldier was killed and five others injured in the battles, the paper said quoting a local official in Saada, about 250km north of the capital Sanaa. The new fatalities bring to nearly 200 the death toll in the military offensive on strongholds of al-Houthi, launched on June 21. The government, meanwhile, offered 10 million rials ($75,500) for information leading to the capture of al-Houthi, the paper said, adding that authorities have sent letters to tribal chieftains in Saada asking them to support military and security forces in their hunt for the fugitive cleric. Yemeni authorities accuse the cleric of organising protests against the United States and Israel in mosques. Al-Houthi is also accused of leading an armed rebellion with foreign financial aid aiming at disturbing security and stability of the impoverished Arab country. The crackdown is the latest in efforts by the Yemeni government to fight militant groups. Yemen, a close US-ally in the war against terrorism, has rounded up hundreds of suspected followers of the terror al-Qaeda network. Yemeni officials, however, say that no links between al-Houthi and al-Qaeda has been found.
(What else is new ......Remember the Cole!) |