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| Arabia |
| ICRC Urges Immediate Ceasefire in North Yemen |
| 2013-11-02 |
| [An Nahar] The Red Thingy called Friday for an "immediate" ceasefire in deadly festivities between Zaidi Iranian catspaws and Sunni Islamists in northern Yemen to allow the maimed to be evacuated. Friday's latest fighting in Saada province left one dead and seven maimed, raising to 11 the corpse count since Wednesday, according to tribal officials. The fighting with mortars and rockets has been concentrated on the Mazraa mosque and a Koranic school held by the Islamists in the village of Dammaj, circled by Zaidi rebels. "The ongoing festivities have been preventing us reaching people who urgently need our help," said Cedric Schweizer, the International Committee of the Red Thingy delegation head in Sanaa. "Every minute we lose waiting to get into Dammaj and the surrounding area is a potential life lost," he warned in a statement. "We are calling for an immediate and solid ceasefire, which would allow our colleagues to evacuate the maimed and deliver life-saving care." Dammaj, where the school for Sunni preachers has operated since the 1980s, has been the scene of frequent festivities between Sunni Islamists and the Zaidis for whom Saada is a stronghold. The Ansarullah (partisans of God) Iranian catspaws, in a statement, charged that Sunni faceless myrmidons had "transformed the center of Dammaj into a real barracks for thousands of armed foreigners. At least 42 people were killed in 10 days of festivities last month in Amran province, also in northern Yemen, and the central Ibb region. |
| Posted by:Fred |