Officials say gunmen fired on ex-dean of school of law at Sanaa University Ahmad Sharafeddin. He died on the spot. PHOTO: FILE
SANAA: Unknown assailants shot and killed a leader of the Yemeni Shia Houthi group in Sanaa on Tuesday while he was on his way to attend reconciliation talks in the Yemeni capital, officials at the talks said.
They said the gunmen opened fire on Ahmad Sharafeddin, a former dean of the school of law at Sanaa University, and he died immediately.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the assassination, but another Houthi leader, Abdulkarim al-Khiwani, accused Sunni militants of carrying out the attack.
The Houthi group has fought Sunni Salafis in northern Yemen since October before a ceasefire was reached earlier this month to relocate the Salafis to another city some 250 km away. But clashes have continued in other parts of northern Yemen with tribesmen allied to the Salafis.
The sectarian rivalry has cast a shadow over reconciliation efforts in Yemen, a neighbour of top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
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