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8 killed in sectarian clashes in northern Yemen

21 April 2012 19:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Eight people were killed Saturday in fresh sectarian clashes between Shiite rebels and Sunni fundamentalists in Yemen’s northern restive province of Saada, APA reports.

The two groups issued statements on Saturday, accusing each other of breaking the fragile tribal truce.

The clashes that also left several people injured took place at a checkpoint manned by the Shiite rebels outside Saada’s central city of Saada.

The checkpoint is on a main road linking Saada’s central city with Damaj, the only town in the province dominating by the Sunni Salafis.

Hundreds of people were killed in fierce sectarian clashes before a fragile tribal ceasefire deal was reached last month that put an end to months-long siege by the Shiite rebels on Damaj.

Yemen’s northern provinces of Saada, Hajj and al-Jouf, which border neighboring oil rich country Saudi Arabia, have recently seen almost daily sectarian conflicts between armed Shiite and Sunni tribesmen.

The Shiite rebels, also known as Houthis who control most parts of Saada, signed a ceasefire deal with the Yemeni government in August 2010, putting an end to an on-and-off war since 2004.

However, the Shiite rebels have since involved in sectarian clashes with local Sunni tribesmen, which rocked the northern regions and forced thousands of local residents to flee the conflict to remote areas.

The tension has escalated after the central government’s control is weakened by one-year unrest. The Shiite rebels were trying to take advantage of the security vacuum to expand their control over the country’s northern regions.