SANAA —  The death toll from a Houthi Shi’a attack on a mountain town in northern Yemen held by their Salafi Sunni Muslim rivals has risen to 24, a Salafi spokesman said on Thursday, Oct. 31, as the two sides fought for a second day.

Abu Ismail al-Hajouri said more than 100 people were also wounded in Damaj, which he said the Houthi rebels, who dominate the northern province of Saada, had besieged for weeks.

He said most of the casualties had been inflicted in the past two days when rockets and tank shells hit a mosque and dormitories for students at a nearby religious school. He said Salafis were fighting back with light automatic weapons.

There was no independent account of the clashes and no immediate report on any Houthi casualties.

Fighting erupted on Wednesday, despite government mediation efforts to shore up a truce in place since late last year in a province long beyond the control of the authorities in Sanaa.

A Houthi statement, late on Wednesday, accused the Salafis of igniting strife by bringing thousands of foreign fighters to Damaj, which lies near Saada, a Houthi-controlled city near the Saudi border some 130 km (80 miles) north of the Yemeni capital.