SANAA: Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels killed the capital’s governor in clashes that erupted during an attempt to detain him, his relatives said on Friday.

Sanaa governor Abdulghani Jamil and his nephew Nasr Jamil died of wounds suffered in clashes late on Thursday between his aides and the Iran-backed militiamen, they said. Jamil was appointed by exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia after the rebels seized power in Sanaa and later advanced on his last refuge in the south, the port city of Aden.

The Houthis ‘demanded Jamil hand himself in’ but he refused, resulting in a firefight, relatives said. The Houthis, allied with troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been in control of Sanaa since September, despite more than two months of Saudi-led coalition air strikes against their positions.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2015

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