Toll rises in Yemen clashes

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Artillery!

Intermittent clashes between Yemeni security forces and supporters of a slain cleric have left 33 people dead in 24 hours in a resurgence of violence.

Troops sealed off villages in Saada province near the border with Saudi Arabia on the lookout for followers of anti-government cleric Shaikh Husain Badr al-din al-Huthi, who was killed by Yemeni armed forces last year.

Twenty-three fighters and 10 members of the army and security forces have been killed since the violence erupted early on Monday, tribal sources say, adding that another 51 fighters have been detained by the authorities.

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Early on Tuesday, shots and artillery could be heard from the northwestern mountains where soldiers backed by tanks and armoured vehicles cordoned off villages and raided houses.

al Jazeera

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1. Many killed in Yemen fighting

At least 16 people have been killed in a gun battle in Yemen, the latest in a series of clashes between government forces and Shia Muslim fighters, an official said.

He said 10 soldiers and six followers of slain cleric Husain al-Huthi died late on Friday in a battle which broke out after fighters tried to attack an army camp in the northern area of Nishur.

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Yemeni security sources have blamed al-Huthi's father, Shaikh Badr al-Din, for the new round of violence which has killed at least 54 state troops and fighters since it broke out in late March in the northern Saada province and surrounding areas of Nishur, al-Shafaah and al-Rizamat.

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

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/96388788-621D-4F53-AD9A-43372E75D724.htm