Twelve Yemeni policemen died in clashes on Saturday, it has emerged. The fighting occurred in an area of the country which last year saw repeated clashes between Islamist rebels and government troops. Tribal elders in the north-western Saada province said the policemen were ambushed by armed men as they passed through the town of Munabbah. An officer related to the provincial governor of Saada, Yahia al Amri, is thought to be among the dead. It is not known who carried out the attack. In September, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned followers of Sheikh Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, a spiritual leader from the Zaidi Shia sect, who was killed by government forces. The Zaidis are a Shia Muslim sect dominant in north-western Yemen. They have been accused of trying too overthrow the Yemeni government. About 400 people were killed in clashes between Houthi's followers and government forces.