Yemen's army Tuesday launched an offensive against tribesmen suspected of repeatedly sabotaging an oil pipeline in east Yemen, sparking clashes which left 17 people dead, tribal sources said. The dead included 10 tribesmen and seven soldiers, said the sources, who added that the offensive in Marib province's Habab valley, 140 kilometres (87 miles) east of the capital Sanaa, was launched in the early hours and was backed by air raids.

The sources said the army was "randomly shelling" the area where some al Qaeda militants joined tribesmen battling Yemeni troops. Marib is a major al Qaeda stronghold. Tribesmen, of whom 18 were also wounded according to the same sources, fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns, one source said.

According to official figures, lost production because of attacks on the oil pipeline in the east cost the government more than $1 billion dollars in 2012, while oil exports fell by 4.5 percent. A tribal source told AFP that the offensive was targeting prominent figure Salah bin Hussein al-Dammaj, who has allegedly blown up the pipeline several times to pressure the authorities to pay him 100 million riyals ($480,000) in compensation for land he claims was taken from him in Sanaa.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012