Six Yemeni soldiers and five supporters of slain rebel cleric Husain al-Huthi have been killed in clashes in the north of the country. Insurgents ambushed a military convoy on Thursday, killing six including an officer, in the province of Saada. Government troops countered by attacking the rebels and killing five of them, a government source said on Friday. Yemen says insurgents loyal to al-Huthi want to instal clerical rule and preach violence against the United States and Israel. The group is not linked to al-Qaida. Al-Huthi belongs to the Zaidi Muslim sect, which mixes Sunni and Shia beliefs. The sect is named after its founder Zaid bin Ali, a descendent of Prophet Muhammad. Fierce fighting first broke out in 2004 in the north, during which al-Huthi was killed along with 200 insurgents. A new round of clashes, which the government blamed on al-Huthi's father Shaikh Badr al-Din, erupted in 2005. Later, the elder al-Huthi agreed to stop fighting and Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, ordered an amnesty in September for all of al-Huthi's jailed supporters.