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2 opposition-backed rebels killed in clashes in northern Yemen

10 August 2011 04:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least two armed rebels were killed and several others were injured in clashes between Yemeni army and opposition-backed rebels in northeast Sanaa province on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Republican Guards continued on Tuesday to shell on numerous hideouts of the opposition militants, who seek to achieve the protestors’ demands of ousting President Ali Abdullah Saleh, killing at least two rebels and injuring several others in Arhab district," a local resident told Xinhua by phone.

Three houses in the opposition-backed tribal area of Arhab were set ablaze due to heavy shelling from the government’s elite military bases in Samaa, Bait Dahrah and al-Jimaima areas in northeast province of Sanaa, the residents said.

Meanwhile, a tribal opposition source told Xinhua that the opposition armed rebels used Katyusha rocket launcher to fire back on government military bases.

No immediate reports of casualties of the troops.

The Defense Ministry said earlier the opposition militants were seeking to capture the Samaa military base, the Sanaa International Airport and northern entrances of Sanaa after they sided with the protestors who demanded the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Arhab, about 60 km northeast of Sanaa, has witnessed sporadic clashes between the Republican Guards and opposition tribal fighters supported by defected army troops since late May, which left dozens of people dead and forced hundreds of families to flee the area.