SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen said on Sunday it arrested two Europeans for weapons training in the centre of the country, while Shi'ite rebels shot dead an accused government collaborator in their war with Sanaa.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that one of the Europeans had an Arabic name and the other was a non-Arab. The two were 24 years old but the ministry did not specify which country they were from.
"Security forces in Dhamar province arrested two foreigners carrying the nationality of one of the European countries for practicing weapons firing," the statement said.
Yemen, struggling to stabilise a fractious country strategically located next door to Saudi Arabia, jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional arm claimed responsibility for an attempted December attack on a U.S.-bound plane.
Western countries and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting the instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.
The killing of the government collaborator was one of the first signs of violence since a February truce deal between the government and northern rebels whose fight drew in neighbouring oil exporter Saudi Arabia last year.
The Interior Ministry said that some of the rebels, who have fought the government on and off since 2004, had opened fire on two men in the Saada region, where most of the fighting took place. One died while the other was in critical condition.
"Houthi rebels targeted the two young men as revenge for cooperating with the government during the war on Houthi rebel strife in the Saada province," the Interior Ministry said.
Analysts say the truce was unlikely to last as it does not address rebel complaints of discrimination by Sanaa.
A member of a committee overseeing the truce said he did not expect violence to spread after the shooting, adding that it would be addressing revenge cases to help contain any feuds.
"The incident was contained, and there is no fear of an outbreak of acts of violence. We will be resolving cases of revenge," the committee member said.
Separately a judicial source told Reuters on Sunday that a security court sentenced a former Yemeni ambassador to Mauritania to five years in prison for violating national unity and inciting armed rebellion in the south of the country.
Yemen, in addition to its conflict in the north that has displaced 250,000 people, is trying to contain a separatist movement in the south that has escalated in recent weeks, leaving a trail of dead and wounded and raising fears of a new insurgency even as violence in the north fades.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Jason Benham; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
