Random assaults leave four dead, two injured [Archives:2008/1119/Front Page]
By: Mohammed Bin Sallam
SA'ADA, Jan. 9 ) Military forces deployed in Haidan district of the restless governorate killed four people among them two women, and left another two, one of whom is a child at age 4, injured during their random strikes and assaults of the district's villages, tribal sources said Tuesday.
The sources added that the military operations reached the Dhera'a village that witnessed nothing of such events during the straight four day attacks and strikes against Al Al-Jaon village with heavy machine guns and mortars because its inhabitants celebrated the Ghadir Day.
In Al Al-Jaradi village, two people were shot dead and others wounded the same day when the army troops fired at a Toyota car driving the victims on the feeder road to their village. According to the local sources, two homes were completely destroyed in the most recent military strikes. They told that military forces took control of citizens' homes in Safia area of Haidan, which have been deserted by the horror-stricken families since the most war broke out after weeks of sharp tensions between Houthis and government troops in the area.
The tragic developments also reached Al-Sha'ab area of Saqain district and other areas in the neighboring district of Majaz where tension between citizens and military troops has grown sharper as the troops were allegedly scolding the villagers.
In a related context, eyewitnesses noted that the government is increasing its military presence in various areas, south of Sa'ada city, and supplying field troops with tanks and armored vehicles to restrict movements of Houthis.
“A group of Houthis set up an ambush against a military vehicle driving eight soldiers to Haidan after the soldiers arrested a woman on suspicion of supporting the Houthi movement. Houthi loyalists available at the scene fired at the military vehicle, leaving the eight soldiers dead, freeing the captured woman and stealing away the vehicle,” Al-Wasat Weekly reported on Tuesday. It mentioned that Houthis controlled Bani Hedhaifa and Mehdaida mountains two days after the area's tribal sheikh was killed.
“Other Sa'ada areas witnessed skirmishes between the army personnel and Houthi followers over these past few weeks,” the weekly continued. According to a tribal source with a closer relation to Abdulmalik Badraddin Al-Houthi, the field leader of Houthis, the government troops raided homes in Haidan's Al Ja'wan area in retaliation for citizens' engagement in the Ghadir Day celebrations. He further told that the government sent a large military campaign which, upon its arrival to the governorate, exchanged gunfire with Houthi followers in the area, adding that the clashes terribly extended to the distant village of Dhera.
The presidential committee, authorized by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to investigate facts behind breaking the Sa'ada truce, has just returned to Sana'a after its head, Sheikh Faris Mana'a, an arms tradesman, met Abdulmalik Al-Houthi and BG. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, Commander of the Northern Military Flank.
One of the committee's members said, “when we met Al-Ahmar and told him about the violations, he replied that the committee's members have to carry blankets with them, hold positions on the top of mountains and closely observe the situation if they want to identify those who violate the truce.”
Regarding trials of suspects accused by the government of backing Houthis, the Supreme Court assigned its next Tuesday's sitting for discussing the evidence file due to be submitted by the defense team of the journalist Abdulkarmi Al-Khaiwani, one of the suspects.
The defense team claims that the State Security Penal Court (SSPC), in charge of trying the journalist, is not, by the constitution, entitled to receive such cases, which are beyond its jurisdiction. The team earlier challenged the SSPC's legitimacy, saying it is not the relevant judicial body, concerned with handling its client's case.
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