Six Yemen soldiers killed in Shi'ite militant attack

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

SANAA, Jan 28 (Reuters) Six Yemeni soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded when Shi'ite rebels attacked state forces in a northern province, a government official said today.

''A group of saboteurs led by Abdul-Malek al-Houthi carried out a rare attack yesterday on locations belonging to the armed forces and security in the province of Saada,'' the official said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Anti-US Shi'ite Houthi is the son of Sheikh Badr el-Deen al-Houthi and the brother of slain cleric Hussein, who sought to set up a Shi'ite regime. Hussein was killed in 2004 and his father's whereabouts are unknown.

''The local authority and the armed and security forces in the province of Saada ... will carry out their duties in preserving security and stability and ending these acts of sabotage carried out by these criminals,'' the statement by the Saada security committee, quoted the official as saying.

The official did not name the installations targeted.

Yemen has accused the rebels led by the Houthi clerics of wanting to install Shi'ite religious rule and of preaching violence against the United States.

In March 2006, Yemen freed more than 600 of the rebels as part of an amnesty that aims to put an end to two years of clashes that have killed several hundred soldiers and rebels.

Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, joined the US-led war on terrorism after the September. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Houthi's supporters are not linked to al Qaeda. Sunni Muslims make up most of Yemen's 19 million population, while Shi'ite Muslims account for about 15 per cent.

REUTERS SP PM1925

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