Sana'a (Yemen), Aug 23 (DPA) More than 100 Shia rebel fighters have been killed in fierce clashes with government forces in northwest Yemen during the past two days, the government said in a statement Sunday.

The statement, faxed to DPA, said two field commanders of the Houthi rebel group were among those killed in the Harf Sufian district of the Amran province.

'More than 100 bodies of Houthis were found on the sides of roads in and outside Harf Sufian district,' the statement said.

It identified the two slain Houthi leaders as Mouhssen al-Qaoud and Saleh Jarman.

The statement said the bodies were found the bodies after the government forces restored controlled over the district from the rebels.

The rebel group denied the reported capture of the district, saying planes shelled it for the last time Sunday morning.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh renewed his government's offer to end the fighting with the rebels on Friday.

Saleh said the ceasefire offer 'is based on an unconditional commitment' by the rebels to the terms of a six-point peace initiative announced by the government last week.

He said if rebels rejected peace and continued the fighting, 'we will face this sedition in a decisive way and with all capabilities we have got.