[Mail and Globe] Ten people have been killed in clashes over control of a north Yemen mosque between Shiite Zaidi rebels and militants from the country's main Sunni opposition party, both groups said on Monday. They said the violence erupted late on Saturday between Huthi rebels and the Islamist party Al-Islah (Reform).
"Huthis attacked the Zine al-Abidin mosque in Zahra to take it over, killing three members of Al-Islah," the Islamist party's chairman Abdel Hamid Ameur said.
He added that shortly afterwards, an attack on mourners for the three victims resulted in the deaths of another two Al-Islah members, sparking clashes in which five rebels were also killed.
Rebel spokesperson Mohammad Abdel-Salam confirmed the incident, but also expressed surprise at the incident: "We have good relations with Al-Islah," he said.
An official in the mixed Sunni-Shiite population city of Zahra, in Al-Jawf province, said mediation by an opposition socialist official brought an end to the confrontation.
Al-Islah, led by Sadok Abdullah al-Ahmar, is the second largest grouping in the Yemeni parliament, with 62 MPs, just behind the ruling General People's Congress party of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Among Al-Islah's top members is Sheikh Abdel Majid al-Zendani, its second most senior official, who runs an Islamic university described by its critics as a hotbed of radicalism.
The festering Shiite Zaidi rebellion in mountainous north Yemen's Saada province is led by Abdel Malek al-Huthi.