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Nine killed in north Yemen clashes: tribal official

SANAA — Nine people were killed in clashes between Yemen’s Shiite rebels and government-backed tribes in the northern town of Huth on Monday, a tribal official told AFP.

“Violent clashes took place at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) between Huthi rebels and tribesmen in which five Huthis and four tribesmen were killed and several others were wounded from both sides,” the official said.

“Clashes erupted when several Huthis entered the town under the excuse of offering their condolences to the family of a fellow Huthi killed two days ago,” a witness said.

The man was killed by a supporter of the pro-government prominent tribal chief Sheikh Hussein al-Ahmar who had ordered tribesmen to kill any Shiite rebel entering Huth, in Amran province, according to a source close to the rebels.

The situation in Huth, which lies halfway between Sanaa and the rebels’ stronghold of Saada, remained “tense,” a source close to Ahmar said, adding that “a new round of clashes is expected between both sides.”

On August 1, Ahmar helped mediate the release of 100 Yemeni soldiers captured by the Huthis in recent fighting.

The rebels and the army engaged in deadly fighting in July that lasted nine days, rattling an already fragile truce agreed in February which had ended a six-month round of fighting in a conflict that started in 2004.

The Shiite rebels complain of political, social and religious marginalisation, and have repeatedly fought with government forces in a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced some 250,000 people.