Yemen declares state of emergency in rebellion-hit province (Roundup)

Aug 12, 2009, 17:05 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni authorities imposed the state of emergency on Wednesday in the volatile north-western province of Saada, where the army is conducting a massive onslaught against Shiite rebels, the state Saba news agency reported.

'The local council of Saada province declared the state of emergency in all parts of the province,' the agency said.

It said the council called on citizens to 'carry out their religious and patriotic duty in confronting the rebels and saboteurs.'

Residents in the provincial capital of Saada, which carries the same name, said authorities imposed a curfew in the city and surrounding towns during the evening.

At least 19 insurgents and civilians were killed Wednesday after the army bombarded strongholds of the Houthi rebel group on the border with Saudi Arabia, rebels and residents said.

Scores of people were injured.

The rebels said in a statement received by the German Press Agency dpa that most of the fatalities in the assault were civilians.

They said 15 of the people were killed after a fighter jet struck a marketplace in Haiden town.

Government officials refused to comment on fatalities.

The army began on Tuesday with aerial, artillery and missile strikes on the strategic heights of Matra and Dhahian, the two main strongholds of the rebels on the border with Saudi Arabia.

The country's Supreme Security Committee said in a statement that the assault was 'the last option after the rebels rejected the call of peace made by the government.'

The committee, that groups ministers of interior and defence as well as the top army commanders, said the government ordered the army to launch the attack 'to protect the citizens in line with its constitutional responsibility.'

It vowed to 'strike them (the rebels) with an iron fist until they give themselves up to justice.'

Tensions have been rising in recent months between the Houthis, and the army in Saada since last July when President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared the conflict over.

Five waves of fierce fighting between the rebels and the military have left hundreds of soldiers and insurgents dead since 2004.

Authorities have accused the rebels of trying to reinstall the rule of imams, which was toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.

The Houthis belong to the Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.