Sanaa: Nineteen Shiite rebels were killed in clashes with Yemeni soldiers in Saada province for control of a military camp, raising the death toll to more than 50, a local official said.

The head of a Zaidi Shiite revolt, meanwhile, blamed the army for the renewed bloodshed in northwestern Yemen since Friday.

Six soldiers were wounded in the fighting yesterday in the Haydan district village of Dafaa for control of the camp, said the local official, who declined to be named.

The clashes were sparked by an army offencive to recapture Dafaa military camp, which has been in rebel hands for the past three months, the source said, adding that soldiers had entered the camp.

In an interview with a French radio station, rebel leader Abdul Malak al-Huthi said the army was to blame for the bloodshed.

"The renewed tension is due to the repeated aggressions of the army ... Which is using tanks and other weapons ... In unjustified operations" in the mountainous province of Saada, Huthi told RMC Middle East.

"This will lead to the worst," he warned in the interview accusing army officers of blocking Qatari mediation efforts between the Sanaa government and the Zaidi rebels.

"Military chiefs refuse to bring an end to the war because it serves their interests," he charged, while at the same time denying any links between the revolt and Shiite Iran.

Ten people were killed in clashes between the army and rebels of Yemen's Shiite minority on Saturday in the north of the country, tribal sources said.

Source : PTI