Yemen court sentences four Shi'ite rebels to death

SANAA (Reuters) - Four Shi'ite rebels were sentenced to death on Monday after a Yemeni court convicted them of killing two soldiers, a court source said.

Three of the rebels were sentenced in their absence, the source told Reuters.

The rebels killed the soldiers when they ambushed an army patrol in 2007.

Fighting in the northern province of Saada between rebels led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi and the army has flared intermittently since 2004. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes.

Yemeni officials say the rebels, who belong to the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam, want to return to a form of clerical rule prevalent until the 1960s.

The rebels, who want Zaydi schools and oppose the government's alliance with the United States, say they are defending their villages against what they call government aggression.

Qatari mediators returned to Yemen earlier this month in an attempt to salvage a truce brought to the verge of collapse by a mosque bombing that killed 15 people. Houthi denies government accusations that his followers were behind the attack.

(Reporting by Mohammed al-Ghobari; Writing by Ola Galal; Editing by Giles Elgood)