Sana’a: Twenty-two people were killed in fighting between Al Houthi rebels and government-allied tribesmen in northern Yemen on Monday and Tuesday, tribal and local sources said.
The fighting in Al Jawf province, northeast of the capital Sana’a, is further destabilising a country struggling to overcome a range of threats including a secessionist movement in its south and the spread of an Al Qaida insurgency.
An upsurge in the fighting between Al Houthi gunmen and tribesmen this month followed weeks of anti-government demonstrations by Al Houthi activists in Sana’a.
Al Houthis have been embroiled in a decade-old conflict with the central government in Sana’a, fighting for more territory and control in the north.
Al Houthi protesters say they are taking a stand against government corruption in the poor southern Arabian country.
Critics say Al Houthis are trying to grab power and carve out a semi-independent state for themselves in the north — something they deny.
The sources said the dead included 15 Al Houthi fighters, while Al Houthis killed two sons of a tribal leader in addition to five other people.
In a separate incident southwest of Sana’a on Tuesday, four armed tribesmen were killed by Al Houthi fighters, said sources.
On Monday, the Houthis said that they had suspended their participation in negotiations with the Yemeni government about a solution to their grievances because of what they termed “foreign interventions” in the course of the discussions.
The talks aim to end a crisis that has seen weeks of sometimes bloody protests in Sana’a, where Houthi protesters have been blocking the main road to Sana’a’s airport and holding sit-ins at ministries to try to oust the government and restore fuel subsidies cut by the state in July as part of economic reforms.
