CLASHES IN NORTH YEMEN KILL AT LEAST 19 PEOPLE
Baku, July 22 (AZERTAC). At least 19 people have been killed in overnight clashes between rebels and government-backed militia in Yemen, BBC reports.
The fighting came a day after it was revealed that dozens of people have been killed recently in renewed violence in the area.
The clashes have strained a truce agreed in February between Shia Houthi rebels and the government.
Elsewhere, in southern Yemen five soldiers were killed in an ambush in an area where al-Qaeda is active.
The ambush occurred in Shabwa province, and is reportedly the third attack on government troops by militants in the area in five weeks.
Radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been linked to al-Qaeda attacks in the US, is thought to be in the area.
The fighting between the government and the Houthi rebels has been flaring since 2004, and last year neighboring Saudi Arabia was brought into the conflict.
At least 49 people have been killed in fighting between the rebels, known as Houthis, and the pro-government Ibn Aziz tribe, in recent days.
Houthis, named after their leader`s family name, complain that they are the victims of economic and religious discrimination, which the government denies.
There is a history of fighting between the rebels and the Ibn Aziz clan, but these clashes are believed to be the bloodiest since the truce was announced.
Yemen agreed the peace deal with the rebels in order to quell violence in its northern regions, allowing it to concentrate on a simmering separatist struggle in the south, and the presence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
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