71 rebels killed including three of the most wanted

By Nasser Arrabyee/27/09/2009

A total of 71 Al Houthi rebels were killed over the last two days including three leaders of the most wanted list of 55 whom the government announced at the beginning of the war on August 10, said the Ministry of Defense Sunday.

"The terrorist Jarallah Mohmamed Esmail along with 11 of his aides were killed in Al Malahaid, and terrorist Sulaiman Ahmed Al Ayani was killed with 7 of his aides also in confrontations in Al Malahaid," said the Ministry in an official statement.

The wanted leader Hassan Thaen was killed along with 11 of his aides in confrontations in Dammaj about 15 km south east of the city of Sa'ada, the statement said.

The Ministry said that 30 rebels were killed while trying to attack the strategic post of Shakra which was controlled by the army last week. The two rebel leaders Amar Hezam Thaiban, and Salem Hassan Salem were among those who were killed.

A Group of 12 rebels were killed in Dhahyan area, one of the most important strongholds, 35 km north west of Sa'ada city, by a missile fired from an aircraft.

On his part, the spokesman of the rebels, Mohammed Abdul Salam said his fighters killed a whole battalion of the soldiers in an ambush in Harf Sufyan on Saturday.

"While the battalion was creeping at 2 am early morning Saturday, at the area of Al Ghela which is parallel to Wadi Shabarek, in Harf Sufyan, the whole area, which was mined, turned to a volcano killing them all," the spokesman said in statement sent through emails.

The army said it defused more than 40 mines in Harf Sufyan area, which form the real strength of the rebels because of its rugged mountains and the mines planted by the rebels.

A group of nine people were executed by orders from the rebels leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi in Marran area last week when they tried to displaced to a safer place, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in his speech Saturday on the occasion of the 47^th anniversary of the 26 September revolution. Saleh vowed to finish the rebels off even if takes him "five or six years".