Middle East News
Yemeni rebels release 178 army soldiers captured during fighting
Mar 16, 2010, 22:56 GMT
Sana'a, Yemen - A Shiite rebel group that has fought the national Army in northern Yemen for more than five years released 178 captured soldiers on Tuesday, a ceasefire monitoring committee said.
'The Houthis released 178 military men today,' a source in the government committee monitoring a ceasefire with the rebels told the German Press Agency dpa.
The freed soldiers were handed over to government representatives in the north-western province of Saada, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Yemen's government and the rebels, called Houthis after the family of their leaders, reached a peace agreement on February 11, ending fighting that has raged on and off since mid-2004.
Houthis claim discrimination by the majority Sunni population in Yemen, while Yemeni authorities accuse them of trying to reinstall Shiite religious rule overthrown in 1962.
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