At least 20 militants were killed in clashes between Shiite rebels and Sunni tribesmen in Yemen’s north-eastern province of al-Jouf, a local journalist said Thursday.
The fighting, which erupted Wednesday night, pitted fighters from the Shiite Houthis against tribal supporters of the Sunni Islah Party, Mabkhut Mohammed, a journalist in al-Jouf, told dpa by phone.
The dead included 16 Houthis and four tribal insurgents, he said.
“Both sides are using heavy and medium weapons in the fighting that is still going on,” he added.
A presidential committee has failed to end the violence that started more than a week ago.
Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the leader of the Shiite rebels, gave the government until Friday to revoke rises in fuel prices or face what he called “a revolution.”
Earlier this week, thousands of al-Houthi’s backers rallied in Sana’a against the price hikes in response.
Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi Thursday held a crisis meeting to discuss the threat and ordered security forces to be on alert “for all possibilities”, state-run news agency SABA reported.
“The state will not remain hand-cuffed over this serious threat,” the agency quoted him as saying.
The Houthis have expanded their influence from the far north and closer to the capital city Sana’a since the beginning of the year.
Yemen also faces a secessionist movement in the south and an insurgency by al-Qaeda operatives.
GNA
PDC
