Yemeni government forces have killed 12 more supporters of an anti-U.S. rebel cleric in overnight clashes in the mountainous north of the country, a government-owned newspaper said on its Web site on Friday.
The paper, September 26, quoted sources in the governorate of the Saada province. It said the dead included the brother of Hussein al-Houthi and raised the death toll from recent clashes to at least 72.
On Wednesday, Yemeni forces killed 10 members of Houthi's "Believing Youth" group in Saada, security sources said.
Dozens more fled or gave themselves up, the source added, as security forces besieging the area took over some of the rebels' fortified bases.
A security source said the government expected to seize all of Houthi's bases by Friday.
Sources close to Houthi have put the death toll from the clashes, which began on June 20, at about 200. Security sources say nine policemen have also died and 10 have been wounded.
Yemeni authorities believe Houthi, a leader of the Zaidi Shi'ite sect, also heads the rebel group which has staged violent protests against the United States and Israel.
They have accused him of setting up and training militia in secret and attacking mosques and preachers in Saada, 240 km (150 miles) north of the capital, Sanaa.
On Tuesday Yemeni forces killed Zaid bin Ali al-Houthi, deputy commander of "The Believing Youth" and officials said they seized weapons and ammunition along with pamphlets "which promote sectarian strife".
Anti-U.S. sentiment is high in the region over the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some clerics in Yemen preach hatred for America and the West.
The poor country of 19 million people is also fighting to root out militants linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group. Houthi has not been accused of links to al Qaeda.