Sanaa: Yemen will free northern Shi'ite rebel prisoners within days under a truce to end a war that drew in Saudi Arabia last year, an official said on Thursday, while clashes with armed separatists erupted in the south.
Separately, a US-born radical preacher, believed to be in hiding in southern Yemen where he has been targeted by air strikes, said jihad against the United States was a religious duty and told American Muslims to reconsider their loyalties.
A move by the government to free more prisoners would be a significant step toward cementing a fragile truce to end a northern war that has raged on and off since 2004, but analysts believe the deal is unlikely to last as it does not address the insurgents' complaints of discrimination by Sanaa.
The rebels had freed at least 170 government soldiers and tribal fighters on Wednesday, a day after Sanaa accused them of dragging their feet in implementing the slow-going truce deal to end the war, which has displaced 250,000 people.
"The Ministry of Interior is reviewing lists of prisoners and they are expected to be released in the coming few days," a government official told Reuters.
The official did not say how many prisoners would be freed, but independent sources said it could be several hundred.
Sanaa, struggling to stabilize a fractious country, has come under heavy international pressure to end the northern war and focus on fighting al Qaeda, whose Yemen-based arm claimed responsibility for a December attack on a US-bound plane.
Western countries and neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability on multiple fronts in impoverished Yemen to launch attacks in the region and beyond.
Sanaa, shortly before the rebels freed their captives, had accused the insurgents of returning to some vacated positions and refusing to hand over landmines removed from the war zone.
A rebel spokesman denied the insurgents were obstructing truce implementation and said that they had resolved the prisoner issue on Wednesday by releasing Yemeni soldiers and tribesmen who fought alongside the state.
A military official, however, has said many more prisoners were still being held by the insurgents.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 21:58