Al Mukalla: As many as 45 bodies of Al Houthi fighters, including 10 children, have been brought to a local hospital in the central province of Dhamar since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan that started on May 27. It shows that once powerful militia movement has suffered heavy losses in the battleground.
A medical source at Dhamar hospital told Al Masdar Online, an independent news site, that most of the Al Houthi fighters were killed in clashes with government forces in the southern city of Taiz. He said that 14 bodies were brought to the hospital in two days.
The Yemeni army field commanders told Gulf News that dozens of bodies Al Houthi fighters are still scattered in the battlefield some have been taken to Sana’a.
Fighting raged in Taiz recently, Yemen’s third largest city, when government forces launched an offensive to push the rebels from the eastern outskirts of the city.
Government forces made advances in the city by taking control of a presidential palace and a military. They have also surrounded Al Houthi fighters in a special security forces camp.
Local activists said on Friday night that a woman was killed and two others injured when a shell fired by Al Houthis ripped through their house in Taiz, close to a military camp recently captured by government forces.
Al Houthi rebels and renegade army units loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh heavily shell residential areas in the city’s downtown when they suffer territorial losses.
Meanwhile, in the northern province of Jawf, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that army troops arrested 10 Al Houthi explosive experts who were involved in planting landmines to obstruct government forces advances in Sabreen region.
After losing momentum on the ground, Al Houthis planted thousands of landmines to slow down advancing government forces in the western coast of the country and other places.
Also in Jawf, the ministry’s official news site said that Saudi-led coalition’s fighter jets destroyed a number of vehicles carrying Al Houthi fighters and ammunition.
