AL_JAWF* July 22 ? A prominent sheikh from the Waela tribe has denied media reports that six foreigners kidnapped last month in Sa?ada are being held hostage in Wadi Jubara in Al-Jawf* an area that his tribe controls.?We control Wadi Jubarah*? he told the Yemen Times over the phone from his residence abroad. ?The foreigners kidnapped in Sa?ada are not there at all* because we monitor everything in the area and villages.? The Waela sheikh spoke in response to media reports that his tribe was sheltering the kidnappers of the six foreigners who have been missing since mid-June.The six were part of a group of nine German* British and Korean aid workers who were attacked in the Sa?ada governorate over a month ago. The bodies of two German and one Korean nurses were found* but the fate of the other six remains unknown. The government has been unable to find the culprits* despite huge mobilization of military and security forces* as well as intelligence in all parts of the governorate. ?We will not allow insecurity to spread in our area*? said the sheikh. ?Our area will never be a safe haven for terrorists and murderers* or a place for conflict between the government and its rivals.??We will never allow either Salafis or Houthis to destabilize security and stability in our area*? he said. ?Similarly* we will never allow anyone to welcome terrorists who kidnap foreigners and commit acts of sabotage and smuggling. Those terrorists will never be protected by the peaceful tribe of Waela.? ?We support President Ali Abdulla Saleh and stand with him. Last week* he requested us to help in the quest for the kidnapped foreigners in our villages and nearby desert. We ordered all the tribe?s youth and sheikhs to participate in the search for the foreigners and kidnappers in a complete survey of the whole area.?The Waela sheikh is affiliated to the 45*000-strong Isma?eli religious sect which* contrary to the Houthis who belong to the Zaidi sect and Salafis who are partly represented by the Islah party* is usually known for avoiding engagement in politics.News reports circulated by opposition media last week said that Sheikh Ammar Bin Obada* who was previously detained on charges of links with Al-Qaeda* was still holding the six foreigners hostage in his village located in Wadi Jubara. Government forces surrounded the village for days* but have withdrawn to the Jubara camp located in Ketaf area near the Saudi border* after the Waela tribes threatened to join the Houthis if the government forces refused to withdraw from the area* according to tribal sources in Sa?ada. The sources said that extensive negotiations are currently being conducted between the government and local tribal representatives to mobilize the tribes in search for the kidnappers. Security consequencesIn Sa?ada* Abdul Hameed Amer* head of the Islah office in Al-Jawf* told the media that an armed group killed Colonel Aidarous Al-Yafi?ee* one of the leaders of the 18th Military Division* and two of his bodyguards last Sunday in an ambush in Al-Mahather* 3 kilometers from Sa?ada city while he was heading to Sana?a.Ten people were also killed in confrontations between Houthis and Islah party supporters in Al-Jawf* neighboring governorate to Sa?ada* last Saturday and Sunday over a mosque which the Houthis were controlling. Local sources said that* ?Bloody sectarian confrontations broke out in the city of Al-Zahir between elements of the Islah party* the biggest opposition party in Yemen* and a group of Houthis due to a dispute over the Zain Al-Abideen mosque in Al-Zaher.?The sources said that the mosque was originally controlled by the Aal Al-Wazeer tribe which supports the Houthis. The confrontations resulted in four Islah party members and six Houthis being killed* and is considered to be the first armed clash between Houthis and members of a political party.Fighting later resumed between the two sides after a number of people went to offer their condolences on the death of the Islah party members. The Houthis have been fighting government forces and tribes* since the first Sa?ada war started on June 18* 2004. Last year* fighting spread briefly to the Bani Hushaish area in the Sana?a governorate. Hundreds of families of detainees over war in Sa?ada staged the nineteenth peaceful protest in front of the cabinet demanding that detainees be released. They demanded the cabinet carry out the president?s January directives to release all detainees from the last Sa?ada war that ended in July 2008.Protestors demanded that the 1*200 detainees be released from the Political Security Organization and National Security prisons* pointing out that they have been detained without trial for two to five years. President Saleh declared the Sa?ada war between the Houthis and government forces over on July 17* 2008. However* intermittent military violations have resulted in over 100 people killed from the two sides....

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