Yemeni troops began to deploy in the northern province of Saada on Saturday to monitor a ceasefire between Husthis and hard-line takfiris.

Yemeni troops began to deploy in the northern province of Saada on Saturday to monitor a ceasefire between Husthis and hard-line takfiris, a security official said.

The deal brokered by a presidential commission ends fighting that erupted in late October centered on a takfirist stronghold in the small town of Dammaj in Saada.

The deal, which was signed late on Friday, stipulated the two sides would withdraw from the areas around Dammaj to be replaced by army troops who would monitor the ceasefire, said Yahya Abu Isba, head of the presidential mediation commission.

"This agreement ends the military conflict between the Huthis and the takfiris in Dammaj... and prevents a sectarian war that was looming over Yemen," he told state television.

The Huthis rose up in 2004 in their stronghold of Saada against the authoritarian government of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, accusing it of marginalizing them.

They accuse radical takfiris in Dammaj of turning the town center into "a real barracks for thousands of armed foreigners.

The security official said that a plane is expected to evacuate what he called "foreign students" and the leader of the takfiris in Dammaj, Yahya al-Hujuri, on Saturday.

Dammaj has a population of around 15,000 people.