Twenty killed in Yemen clashes

Twenty gunmen were killed on Thursday in sectarian clashes in northern Yemen, a security official said.

Clashes erupted in the morning in the northwestern Hajjah province, the local official told AFP.

The official said the gunfight took place in the city of Mustaba, close to the Red Sea port city of Midi, at the border with Saudi Arabia.

Other clashes erupted in the province of Saada, the stronghold of the rebels.

Fighting has raged over the past months in the northern town of Dammaj, south of Saada.

At least 71 people were killed in clashes that erupted in mid-October, a spokesman for the Dar Al Hadith school claimed in late December.

Meanwhile, three Yemeni troops, including a colonel, and four gunmen were killed on Thursday during clashes in the restive southern city of Zinjibar, a military official and a witness said.

The soldiers were killed when a mortar shell exploded as they were loading it at a military base east of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, the official said.

The gunmen were killed in clashes with Yemeni forces northeast of Zinjibar, the witness said.

One of the gunmen was reportedly Egyptian.
 

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