| A senior Yemeni Army commander was wounded in fresh clashes with followers of the rebel cleric Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi in the north of the country, military sources said yesterday. Brig. Gen. Hamid Al-Qushaibi, who leads the military field operations to crush Al-Houthi's rebellion in the northern Saada province, was badly injured in a battle on Wednesday with armed supporters of the radical cleric, the sources said. Al-Qushaibi was hit by a bullet in his right kidney and was airlifted to Sanaa for treatment, a Defense Ministry source told Arab News on condition of anonymity. The sources said 10 soldiers were also killed and more than 40 wounded in renewed fighting that erupted when military troops raided fortifications of the rebels in Jabal Salman mountain in Marran district of Saada, about 250 km north of Sanaa. Local officials in Saada said about 30 followers of Al-Houthi, commanded by his close aide Abdullah Al-Rizami were also killed in the clashes in the mountain, the rebel's last stronghold. |