Report: 120 Salafis killed in Yemen

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) Yemen’s state-run newspaper al-Thawra quoted a Yemeni government official as saying on Sunday that the death toll among Salafis in the town of Damaj had risen to more than 120, with dozens injured.Amin al-Hemyari, who heads the government observers monitoring a November ceasefire between the two sides of the conflict, added that no casualty figures were available for the Houthis.The Yemeni daily also quoted Yehia Abuesbaa, the head of a presidential committee charged with ending the fighting, as saying that Houthi fighters on Saturday seized two government soldiers monitoring the truce on charges of delivering guns and ammunition to the Salafis.“Shooting with light weapons has not stopped throughout the past few days,” Abuesbaa said.The Houthi movement has not commented on the report.Damaj has been the scene of deadly clashes between Houthis and Salafi groups in recent weeks.Clashes erupted after Houthi fighters, who control most regions of Sa’ada, accused the Salafis of bringing thousands of foreign fighters to a religious school in Damaj.The Salafis say the foreigners are religious students who have traveled to study Islamic theology at the Dar al-Hadith academy.On November 4, UN special envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar announced the ceasefire to allow the evacuation of the injured people. The truce was violated only after a few hours.Houthi spokesman Ali al-Bakheeti said the foreign Salafi militants were responsible for the failure of the ceasefire.Houthis are a Shia group in Yemen led by Sheikh Abdel-Malek al-Houthi. The movement draws its name from the tribe of its founding leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi./149