The Yemeni army killed four rebels during heavy clashes with the Shiite rebels in the mountainous north near dawn on Sunday, Xinhua quoted pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV as reporting.
Local sources said the two sides battled for about nine hours in Saada province, northern Yemen, after the rebels launched an attack against the government troops, and the army killed four rebel leaders.
Meanwhile, a Yemeni military source accused the Houthi rebels of violating a truce by attacking a checkpoint with mortar shells.
The rebel group, however, accused the government of shelling areas in Harfi Sufian, northern Yemen, with heavy artillery, denying accusations of violating the ceasefire.
A source with Saada Local Council told the official Saba news agency that the rebels had killed six women and 10 children by shooting them in the head and neck after accusing them of collaborating with the government.
After waging the offensive against the Shiite rebels for three weeks, the Yemeni government announced on Friday it would observe a truce in response to calls by humanitarian organizations and the UN to allow in aid for the war-affected people.
But Yemeni forces resumed its offensive on Saturday against Shiite rebels in Saada province, only a few hours after suspending military operations there.
The government accused the rebels of breaking the ceasefire and resuming their acts of sabotage in Malaheez and Harf Sufian of Saada province. But the Houthi rebels argued that they did not receive the ceasefire decision until they attacked the army.
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