“The [Al] Houthis attacked us and shortly regained the area. We fought with them and got it back. We killed 50 of them and the bodies of the dead are still strewn across the upland. We are on high alert, all set for another attack.” a Salafist fighter said.
Sporadic armed clashes between Salafists and Al Houthis started in October last year when the Shiite rebels, who predominately govern the province, imposed a blockade on a local religious Salafist school. Hundreds of people from both sides have died ever since.
The Al Houthis accused the Salafists of receiving foreign assistance from Saudi Arabia to get rid of them. Al Houthi spokesman was not available on Sunday to confirm or deny Salafist accusations.
Elsewhere, six Al Qaida militants were killed on Sunday in clashes between the army and militants over the control of Yemen’s southern province of Abyan, ministry of defence said.
“Six terrorists were killed and many injured on Sunday morning as army troops repelled an attack by Ansar Al Sharia in the middle of Zinjibar.” a military source told the ministry’s news website.
Despite the government’s massive military offensive on Al Qaida’s stronghold in the south, Al Qaida militants still have a firm stranglehold on three areas in Abyan. In Ja’ar, another Al Qaida stronghold, army troops heavily bombarded the city on Saturday night. Local sources said that the army reached the outskirts of the city and were marching towards the city. Yemeni forces launched an all-out offensive on May 12 aimed at regaining Zinjibar, Ja’ar, Sohugra in Abyan and Azzan in Shabwa from Al Qaida militants.
