Yemen clashes kill 36

SANAA - Yemeni army tanks and helicopters have pounded Shi'ite rebel strongholds in the north, killing at least 36 people, officials and rebel sources say.

Fighting broke out in the northern area of Nishour after rebels tried to attack an army camp. Ten soldiers and six rebels died in the battle, an official said.

Clashes spread close to Saada province on Saturday, killing at least 20 rebels, rebel sources said.

It was the latest in a series of clashes between government forces and rebel followers of slain Shi'ite Muslim cleric Hussein al-Houthi. Local sources said the government was using tribal leaders to mediate a rebel surrender.

Houthi, a Zaidi Shi'ite Muslim who founded a radical group called Believing Youth, was killed last September after two months of clashes with security forces in which at least 200 rebels and state troops died.

Yemeni security sources have blamed Houthi's father, Sheikh Badr el-Deen, for the new round of violence which has killed dozens of government soldiers and rebels since erupting in late March in Saada and surrounding areas of Nishour, al-Shafaah and al-Rizamat.

Yemen says Houthi's armed group is allied to Iran and is trying to overthrow the government, install a Shi'ite religious rule, and is preaching violence against the United States and Israel at mosques. The group is not linked to al Qaeda.

Authorities have detained around 800 suspected followers and have closed many religious schools run by Houthi's followers, saying they were illegal.

Sunni Muslims make up most of Yemen's 19 million population, while Shi'ite Muslims, which include the Zaidi sect to which President Ali Abdullah Saleh belongs, compose about 15 per cent.

Yemen has joined the US-led war on terrorism since the September 11, 2001, attacks. It has cracked down on al Qaeda-linked militants following attacks at home, including the 2000 USS Cole bombing and the 2002 attack on the French supertanker Limburg.

- REUTERS