The leader of a rebel group fighting government forces in the north of Yemen may have died after being severely wounded in an air raid, a government website and local media have reported.
The website of Yemen's defense ministry said on Sunday that Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the so-called Houthi fighters, may have already been buried.
"There are increasing reports about the death of the terrorist Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who was severely injured in an attack aimed at a gathering with a group of terrorist elements," it said on Sunday.
The Houthi declined to comment on the reports.
A purported rebel spokesman had, however, described a defense ministry statement on December 20, which said that Abdul-Malik al-Houthi had been badly wounded, as "baseless".
Power vacuum
Abdulghani al-Iryani, a political analyst based in Sanaa, said that if the reports of al-Houthis death were true they could extend the conflict.
"It is a complication that comes at the worst possible time," he told Al Jazeera.
The war in Saada [where Yemni forces are battling Houthi fighters] could have been stopped at about this time because Abdul-Malik al-Houthi had agreed to the five conditions set by the government for a ceasefire.
"All he needed to do was make a public statement to that effect. If he is now dead, then there will be a power vacuum in the leadership of al-Houthis that will postpone that possibility."
The fighters, who launched a rebellion against the Yemeni government in 2004, belong to the minority Zaidi sect of Shia.
Government forces launched "Operation Scorched Earth" on August 11 in an attempt to crush the rebels in the mountainous northern region.
'Fabricated lie'
The Yemeni government says the rebels are receiving support from Iran, although Tehran has denied any involvement in the fighting.
Sanaa has also recently claimed that the Houthi are working with predominantly Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen, but the group has dismissed the allegations.
"The allegation about our relationship with what is called the al-Qaeda group is a fabricated lie and defamation," the group said in comments emailed to the Reuters news agency earlier this week.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in comments posted on a website that it will take revenge against the US over air raids in Yemen that it claims killed about 50 people.
"We will not let Muslim women and children's blood be spilled without taking revenge," a statement dated December 20 said.
PHOTO CAPTION
Saudi troops ride in the back of an army truck in the southwestern province of Jizan near the border with Yemen in November.
Al-Jazeera