14 killed as rebels clash in Yemen

sanaa — Clashes in Yemen’s capital between Shia Houthi rebels and loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh left 14 people dead on Wednesday, medics and officials said.

The fighting erupted around Sanaa’s central Saleh mosque, Yemen’s largest, as Houthis tried to seize it, they said.

“The Houthis attempted to take control of the mosque in anticipation of a rally on Thursday” in the adjacent square, said an official from Saleh’s General People’s Congress.

The mosque’s guards, who were Saleh supporters, resisted, triggering a gunfight between the two camps, the GPC official said.

The shootout then spread to nearby districts controlled by Saleh loyalists. The official said four Saleh supporters were killed on the spot and a fifth died of his wounds later in hospital.

Nine Houthi fighters also died in the fighting, according to officials. Rebel chief Abdulmalik Al Houthi had on Wednesday urged supporters across the country to head to Sanaa for the rally.

The Houthis and Saleh’s forces continue to jointly control Sanaa, but tensions between them have escalated since a public dispute in August. — AFP

The Houthis attempted to take control of Sanaa’s central Saleh mosque in anticipation of a rally on Thursday in the adjacent square A Pro-Saleh officer