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Yemeni troops clash with rebels after mosque attack

By AHMED AL-HAJ

Associated Press Writer
In this photo released by the Saba News Agency, onlookers gather at the scene of a motorcycle bomb attack in the rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen Friday, May 2, 2008. A bomb rigged to motorcycle blew up amid a crowd of worshippers leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in the rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens, according to government officials.
Saba News Agency/AP Photo
In this photo released by the Saba News Agency, onlookers gather at the scene of a motorcycle bomb attack in the rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen Friday, May 2, 2008. A bomb rigged to motorcycle blew up amid a crowd of worshippers leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in the rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens, according to government officials.
In this photo released by the Saba News Agency, onlookers gather at the scene of a motorcycle bomb attack in the rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen Friday, May 2, 2008. A bomb rigged to motorcycle blew up amid a crowd of worshippers leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in the rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens, according to government officials.

SAN'A, Yemen --

Clashes between rebels and Yemeni troops have resumed in the wake of a devastating bomb attack outside mosque that killed 18 worshippers, a government official said Saturday.

Three soldiers and four rebels died in the overnight skirmishes that took place in the remote mountain province of Saada, near the Saudi Arabian border, where a rebellion by a small Shiite Muslim sect has been raging for the last four years.

The official said a committee of government officials was looking to restart mediation efforts with the rebels. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Meanwhile, families on Saturday buried their loved ones who were killed in Friday's blast, which also wounded dozens of people.

A bomb-rigged motorcycle blew up amid a crowd of worshippers leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in the rebel stronghold of northern Yemen.

The government of predominantly Sunni Muslim Yemen blamed the bombing on Shiite rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi and said six people had been arrested in Saada. Al-Hawthi denied involvement and accused senior army officers of staging the bombing to stoke tensions between the rebels and government.

The Shiite rebels accuse the government of corruption and being too closely allied with the West, while the government has charged al-Hawthi with sedition, forming an illegal armed group and inciting anti-American sentiment.

Yemen is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, but is also the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden's family and al-Qaida loyalists are active in the country.

Recently there have been a series of attacks in Yemen targeting foreigners, but car bombings and attacks on mosques are rare in Yemen.

The Shiite fighters signed two cease-fire agreements with the government in June 2007 and January of this year, but sporadic violence continues.

Saada residents now fear a new round of bloody fighting between the government and rebels. Al-Hawthi's followers have so far refused to hand over their weapons.