Yemeni soldiers and fighters from the minority Zaidi sect clashed overnight in the northwestern province of Saada after some 20 troops were killed in ambushes, witnesses said on Thursday. According to AFP, they said government forces used heavy artillery to bombard members of the sect dug into positions in the mountainous region of Miran.
The clashes followed several ambushes carried out over the past two days by the Shiites in which nearly 20 soldiers and nine local civilians were killed, the witnesses said. Two Shiite fighters had been arrested.
A source close to the militantls' military leader, Abdallah al-Houthi, said there had been sporadic clashes over the past week in different parts of Saada province, resulting in "an indeterminate number of dead among the soldiers." Last June, the two sides had signed a ceasefire through the mediation of Qatar, aimed at ending a conflict which has caused thousands of deaths since 2004.
