Sana'a: The war between the Al Houthi rebels and Yemeni government troops continues in northern Yemen despite the rebels' announcement that they will accept all conditions set by the government for ending the war.

Things could get worse after the rebels killed 23 soldiers in two attacks in the northern mountains on Friday.

In the first instance, the rebels on Friday ambushed a military supply convoy and killed 15 soldiers in the Wadi Al Jabara district on the road between the province of Sa'ada on the Saudi Arabia border and Al Jawf province, tribal chiefs said.

Rebels also killed another eight soldiers in clashes on Friday in Sa'ada town, the rebels said on their website.

A military source confirmed that the rebels had launched an offensive against the town from the suburbs, but said it had been repulsed and that several rebel fighters had been killed.

Yemen, meanwhile, has set a timetable for the rebels to implement the government's terms for a ceasefire in their six-year-old uprising in the northern mountains, presidential adviser Abdul Karim Al Ariani said yesterday.

The details have been sent to rebel leader Abdul Malak Al Houthi through a go-between, Al Ariani said.

"After the Al Houthis agreed to the six conditions, the high security committee has drawn up an implementation timetable which will be overseen by five parliamentary committees. If they agree to it and sign it, the war will end immediately."

Also yesterday, independent sources said that at least five people were killed when the rebels bombarded the house of the tribal leader Othman Mujali. Hamid, the son of the government loyalist, was among the dead.

The rebels on Friday claimed that Saudi forces launched 13 air strikes and fired 174 missiles on the border areas of Shada and Dhaher.

These developments came despite the rebels agreeing to accept the six conditions set by the Yemeni government for ending the war.

The government insists that the rebels should start implementing the conditions by leaving their mountain hideouts, surrendering their weapons and releasing Saudi and Yemeni hostages.

The Saudi Assistant Minister of Defence Khalid Bin Sultan said on Friday the kingdom will only talk with the Yemeni government about the five Saudi missing soldiers.

"We will not talk with the Al Houthi infiltrators about the five missing soldiers, we will talk only with the Yemeni government, and the Al Houthis know this more than others," he said, reacting to a previous statement by the rebels that they would swap prisoners with Saudi Arabia.

— With additional inputs from agencies