Suicide attack on Yemen Shiite rebels, 13 killed

A suicide attacker Friday drove his bomb-laden vehicle into a post held by Shiite Zaidi rebels in north Yemen, killing 13 people, including three children, a tribal chief and witnesses said. Thirteen people were "killed in a suicide attack using a bomb-laden car that stormed a post held by Huthis (Zaidis) in Al-Jawf" province, the tribal chief said. Among those killed were four passersby, a woman and three children, he said. Witnesses confirmed that a car stormed a school in the town of Hazm in Al-Jawf, which the rebels have turned into a base. "The school's entrance was completely destroyed," said the tribal chief who spoke to AFP on the condition of anonymity. He said that shrapnel flew 500 metres (yards) from the site of the explosion "due to its intensity." Since late last year, sectarian clashes between the rebels and Sunni Salafists trying to take over towns in the north have left dozens killed. An explosion near a government administration complex held by the rebels in Al-Jawf killed two people in August. Yemen's mountainous northern region is a stronghold of the Zaidis, also known as Huthis, who from 2004 fought six wars with central government forces before signing a truce in February 2010. The rebellion has claimed thousands of lives.