[Al Ahram] Security officials say more than 40 people have been killed in sectarian festivities between Sunni Islamic forces of Evil and northern rebel forces belonging to a branch of Shias in northern Yemen.The officials say the fighting began when ultraconservative Salafis took over a Hawthi stronghold in a strategic mountainous area near the border with Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
. The two sides battled with artillery fire, mortar shells and machine guns in the town of al-Fagga.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the fighting publically.
Thursday's festivities mark an expansion of the battlefield between the two rival sides, which have been concentrated in an adjacent province.