Fierce clashes broke out again yesterday between followers of a radical preacher and government forces in northern Yemen after efforts exerted by tribal chieftains to mediate an end to the standoff failed. Tribal sources in the northern province of Saada said military forces surrounding remote mountainous areas resumed bombardment on hideouts of the preacher Badruddin Al-Houthi, whom the government blames for violence in the province. More than 30 people were killed or wounded yesterday as heavy fighting pitted army troops and counter-terrorism units against the rebels the Al-Shafia and Wadi Nushur (Nushur Valley) areas of Saada province, military and tribal sources said. Meanwhile, the deputy governor of Saada, Hassan Mannaa, escaped an ambush laid by the rebels in the town of Saada yesterday, a source close to Mannaa said. But five of his bodyguards were seriously wounded when his car came under fire.