A gunfight between Yemeni rebels and pro-government fighters killed seven people in the deadliest clash since a February truce calmed a northern war, officials said Thursday. The clash broke out after dozens of armed rebels descended on a village – said to be a pro-government stronghold – for a rally in support of families of rebels killed in the war that raged on and off since 2004, a local official said. The tribal fighters, who fought alongside the state in the war, tried to stop the rebel rally, and a melee erupted. “The Houthis wanted to hold a rally in Damaj but the locals prevented them. They engaged in a quarrel, which escalated to an armed clash in which three tribesmen and four Houthis were killed,” a local official said, referring to the rebels by the clan name of their leader, Abdel Malek Al-Houthi. A rebel official confirmed a clash had occurred. Meanwhile sporadic violence has re-emerged in the north, straining the truce despite a declaration last month by President Ali Abdullah Saleh that the war in the north was definitely over.
