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Arab Press: Five Killed, 13 Injured in Yemen Market Explosion
Khaled Al-Mahdi, Arab News
Five people were killed and 13 others injured when a hand grenade went off in a crowded marketplace in northern Yemen yesterday, medical sources said. The sources told Arab News that four civilians and an army soldier were killed in the blast in the open-air market in Kutaf district of the northern Saada province. Police officials said that rescue workers and volunteers rushed the injured, seven of whom in critical condition, to hospitals in the provincial capital. They said it was not clear yet whether the explosion was linked to insurgents loyal to a radical preacher, whom authorities accuse of leading an armed rebellion in Saada.

Army troops have been hunting the Shiite leader Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi and his followers in rugged and largely inaccessible mountainous areas of Saada for more than 10 weeks. Government forces have been involved in fierce battles with the preacher's forces, leaving about 400 people killed so far. Authorities accuse Al-Houthi, a former member of Parliament, of setting up an underground armed group called the "Believing Yoots Youth" and inciting people against the US and Israel through violent protests. Military officials said on Aug. 7 that government forces ended major military operations against strongholds of the preacher, but said the hunt for him was continuing
Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-09-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=42760