Yemeni rebel leader says not hurt in fighting -TV

Wed May 28, 2008 3:57pm BST

DUBAI May 28 (Reuters) - Yemeni rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi denied in an audio tape aired by Al Jazeera television on Wednesday reports that he or any other leader of his group had been wounded or killed in clashes with government forces.

"There is no honour for the authorities in claiming that it had killed or wounded any Yemeni citizen without right," Houthi said. "There is no truth in what the authorities have been promoting about wounding any of our field leaders."

The tape could not immediately be verified as authentic but the speaker's voice sounded like that of the rebel leader.

Houthi accused the state of killing women and children during heavy clashes in his northern stronghold of Saada.

Sources close to the government said on Monday that Houthi might have been killed or wounded during weeks of fighting in the mountainous region where his rebels, members of the Shi'ite Muslim Zaydi sect, have battled government forces since 2004. Hundreds of people have been killed in the conflict and thousands have fled their homes.

Violence flared again over a month ago. The government blamed Houthi and his followers for a May 2 bomb that killed 15 people outside a mosque, but the rebel leader denies the charge.

Sanaa has since launched a major offensive to crush the rebels. Sources close to the government say its forces have made sweeping progress in recent days but communications with the volatile province have been severed for over a week, making it difficult to obtain independent reports.

In the tape, Houthi denied any government advance: "The authorities did not achieve any goals since the beginning of the military campaign. They lost a number of military positions."

A defence ministry source said on Tuesday that troops had flushed out rebels holed up in the Bani Huseish area, just 20 km north of the capital, but that fighting continued further north.

Qatari mediators returned to Yemen early in May hoping to salvage a ceasefire agreement that ended six months of fighting between government forces and the rebels last June. They have since left the country without a breakthrough and it was not clear if they would return.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh blamed Houthi in a speech last week for failing to respond to Qatari mediation and warned that the government would impose law and order.

Officials say the rebels want to restore a form of clerical rule prevalent in the country until the 1960s. The rebels, who want Zaydi schools and oppose the government's alliance with the United States, say they are defending their villages against government oppression.

Sunni Muslims form a majority of Yemen's 19 million population, while most of the rest are Shi'ite Zaydis.

One of the poorest countries outside Africa, Yemen is also grappling with a violent campaign by al Qaeda militants, dwindling oil and water resources, unemployment, corruption and a growing community of Somali refugees. (Reporting by Inal Ersan; Editing by Catherine Evans)



Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.