Rebels accused of killing soldier

Sana'a: Yemen accused Shi'ite rebels yesterday of shooting dead a government soldier in the north.

Yemen agreed to a truce with the rebels in February to halt a northern war that has raged on and off since 2004, displaced 350,000 people and briefly drew in Saudi Arabia last year when rebels seized Saudi border areas.

The ceasefire has largely held. But sporadic violence threatens to trigger more instability in the Arabian peninsula state.

An Interior Ministry website statement said police from the northern Sa'ada province reported that a rebel shot a soldier from a security force detail on Tuesday.