| The top aide of a Yemeni rebel preacher who was killed by the army earlier this month surrendered to authorities on Monday along with dozens of supporters, an official told AFP. "Abdullah Ayedh al-Razami, chief lieutenant of Sheikh Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, turned himself in to military authorities along with two aides and dozens of armed supporters" in the province of Saada in northwest Yemen, a local official said, requesting anonymity. They had been besieged by army troops for more than two months, he said. A military commander in Saada said Razami and his men surrendered as a result of both pressure by the military and efforts by tribal notables to prevent further bloodshed. The Yemeni government announced on September 10 that the army had killed Huthi, nearly three months after he started a rebellion in the country's mountainous northwest, near the border with Saudi Arabia, triggering clashes which left more than 400 people dead. The anti-US preacher was a member of the Zaidi sect, a moderate Shiite Muslim sect dominant in northwest Yemen but in the minority in the mainly Sunni country. Authorities had offered a 10-million-rial (55,000-dollar) reward for information leading to the capture of Huthi, whom they had accused of seeking to foment sectarian strife. But Huthi told AFP in July the conflict was a result of his anti-US stand. |