Air raids kill 60 rebels, Al Houthi Accuses Saudi fighters

By Nasser Arrabyee/21/12/2009

More than 60 Al Houthi rebels were killed in air raids which targeted groups of rebels barricaded in about six houses in Razeh, west of Sa'ada, local sources said Monday.

The destroyed houses belong to Mohammed Zaid Abu Talib, Abdul Salam Abu Talib, and Yahya Al Wajeeh, all of them are known as Al Houthi fighters, the sources said.

Some women and children who were in the houses and were used by the rebel fighters as human shields, were also found under the rubbles, said the sources.


Al Houthi rebels confirmed the air strikes on the houses accusing the Saudi warplanes of implementing the air raids.

Al Houthi said in a statement sent through emails that more than '54 civilians including women and children were killed when the Saudi warplanes bombed the houses of Mohammed Zaid Abu Talib, Mohammed Hassan Al Houthi, Ahmed Zaid Abu Talib, Abdul Salam Zaid Abu Talib, and Abdul Azeez Abu Talib, in Razeh'

Immediately after the air raids, the local sources said, Al Houthi fighters arrested 10 local residents from the targeted village in Razeh and took them to an unknown place. Al Houthi fighters accused the 10 arrested people of giving intelligence information to the Yemeni army on their whereabouts.

Meanwhile, military and independent sources repeatedly said Monday that the top leader of the rebels Abdul Malik Al Houthi was killed along with three of his bodyguards in an air raid which targeted the house he was in, in Wadi Al Hebal in Sakain district, west of Sa'ada, at 10:30 pm Saturday.


The rebels Ahmed Yahya Azzan, Fayz Hassan Uri, and Abdullah Al Akbari, were the bodyguards who were killed with him.

Commenting on the alleged murder of their top leader, Al Houthi rebels, in a statement, did not confirm or deny, but they only said, "These are imaginary victories".

In the framework of tightening the noose on the rebels in Sa'ada, more than 25 different cars laden with supply materials to the rebels, were seized in different places and roads in Sa'ada over the past few days, said the Ministry of Interior in a statement Monday.

A total of 8 rebels led by Sultan Turki Kharsan, were arrested in the neighboring province of Al jawf, the statement said.

Three Al Houthi rebels were referred Monday to the prosecution in Sana'a for charges of spying for Iran.