Militants on Tuesday shot dead a law professor who has been representing Huthis at Yemen’s thorny reconciliation talks, a security official said.

Militants on Tuesday shot dead a law professor who has been representing Huthis at Yemen's thorny reconciliation talks, a security official said.

Ahmad Sharafeddin, a Huthi leading figure, was gunned down as he drove from his house in the capital Sanaa to the hotel where the talks are being held, the official said.

He was attacked at the Saba roundabout, in central Sanaa, and died instantly, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sharafeddin is the second representative of the Huthis to the talks to be killed, after gunmen shot dead MP Abdulkarim Jadban in a similar attack in November.

The killing comes as fighting between Huthis and powerful tribes resumed in Amran province after a series of ceasefires brokered by the government had halted months of battles in several northern areas.

The Huthis, whose stronghold is the northern province of Saada, accuse the tribes of backing hardline Salafists fighting the Huthis in the enclave of Dammaj.
The town in Saada province has been besieged by the rebels for months.