Sanaa: Seven Yemeni soldiers, including a
colonel, were killed in an ambush in the northern mountains as
they pressed a month-old offensive against Shiite rebels,
witnesses said today.
The army declined to comment.
The ambush took place yesterday on the road linking Saada
province -- a rebel stronghold on the Saudi border -- with
Jawf province further east, the witnesses told.
Four rebels were later killed in the same area as they
clashed with troops, the witnesses added.
The army said yesterday that it killed 22 rebels and
captured seven more in different operations over the weekend,
as it intensified efforts to reopen key routes in Saada
province and Amran province to its south.
The government launched Operation Scorched Earth on
August 11 in a bid to crush the Shiite rebellion which first
erupted in 2004.
The government accuses the rebels of seeking to restore
the Zaidi Shiite inmate which was overthrown in a 1962 coup
that sparked eight years of civil war.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in
mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority community in the
north.
Relief groups have warned of worsening humanitarian
conditions among the tens of thousands of civilians forced
from their homes by the latest fighting.
Bureau Report
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