DUBAI - Yemeni Shi'ite rebels said on Tuesday they had withdrawn from Saudi soil as part of a truce offer extended to the oil giant after months of border fighting. The pullout could not be independently confirmed. Rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, whose fighters have beenbattling both Saudi and Yemeni government forces, made the ceasefire offer on Monday. Riyadh has said it is considering it. "There has been a complete withdrawal from all Saudi positions and territory," the rebels said on their website. Yemeni tribal sources alongside the Yemeni government denied the rebels had withdrawn. The rebels said Saudi air strikes had killed five people and wounded two on Monday evening. They did not specify whether the strikes had occurred before or after the truce offer, which was made before a conference in London to galvanise support for Yemen as it tackles militancy. Saudi defence ministry spokesman General Ibrahim al-Malek said: "The truce offer is being examined and we will make an official decision later today." Yemen's government has been fighting the rebels on and off since 2004. The conflict intensified last summer when Sanaa launched Operation Scorched Earth to quash the latest upsurge in violence. Saudi Arabia stepped into the fray in November when rebels seized some Saudi territory, prompting Riyadh to wage an offensive against them. Rebel leader Houthi said he was offering a truce "to avoid more bloodshed and to stop aggression on civilians". But he warned Riyadh that if Saudi Arabia did not also end hostilities, rebels would wage an "open war" on the kingdom. Violence flared in northern Yemen, with Yemeni sources saying government forces had killed 20 rebels in clashes that also killed four Yemeni soldiers. The conflict raging in north Yemen has displaced around 200,000 people, according to the United Nations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday humanitarian conditions in northern Yemen were worse than ever. In the continued separatist-inspired unrest in the south, a senior local police commander was shot dead on Tuesday as armed protesters clashed with security forces in al-Mahrah province and five demonstrators were wounded, residents said.
