No independent confirmation of the claim:
Yemen rebels say air strikes kill 54 civilians
A spokesman for Shiite rebels in Yemen on Sunday accused Saudi forces
of killing 54 civilians in air strikes against a border town between the
two Arab countries.
There was no independent confirmation of the claim made by the
spokesman, who identified himself only as Ali, in a telephone call to
AFP in Dubai.
"There has been a massacre committed by the Saudis in the district of
Razeh in the (northern) Saada province, this morning (Sunday)," the
spokesman said.
"The town of Al-Nadheer was targeted by air strikes and 54 civilians,
including women and children, were killed," he added. "The raids have
destroyed five houses... (whose inhabitants were) unarmed civilians,"
the spokesman said.
He charged that Saudi forces were advancing across the borders toward
the village of Zawa, also in the Saada region, adding that the Saudi
army had fired "more than 200 shells" on Sunday.
Saudi forces have been fighting the Zaidi Shiite rebels, who are also
known as Huthis, since November 3, after a group of them killed a Saudi
border guard and occupied two small Saudi villages.
Riyadh says its operations have been limited to its own territory.
The Yemeni government, meanwhile, launched an all-out offensive against
the rebels on August 11 in a bid to end a five-year rebellion, which it
charges is backed by Iran despite Tehran's denials.
The defence ministry said on Sunday that rebel leader Abdul Malak al-Huthi
had been seriously wounded in fighting with government forces, but the
rebels' spokesman dismissed the report as "baseless."
The ministry-linked website Sep26.net said Huthi was hit in an air
strike and forced to leave Matra, southeast of Saada town, after
delegating a relative named Youssef Madani to head the rebels. Huthi has
left to Haydan, 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the west, it added.
Local tribal sources also told AFP that Huthi was seriously wounded
two weeks ago, and has handed command to an uncle, Abdul Karim al-Huthi,
and Madani - husband of a daughter of Hussein al-Huthi, the late rebel
leader killed in 2004.
But the rebels' spokesman insisted the revolt's leader was fine.
"The authorities are trying to cover up for their failure in the
field by spreading such rumours," he said.
AFP |