A boy holds his father’s rifle during a rally by followers of the Houthi movement in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, August 11, 2015.

Local sources in Ibb governorate have revealed that the Houthi militias kidnapped 300 civilians, mostly elderly and children, in the town of al-Adeen.

Sources said that the kidnapped people were all civilians from the villages of Dbayeh and al-Meydan in Ramid District.

The kidnappings are said to be in revenge for the killing of Houthis commander Abu Abdulrahman Al-Alwi in the district last Friday, which reportedly happened during clashes with unidentified people. Sources said that the militants blew up a number of houses in the same area.

Militias raided the houses and drove out families by force before kidnapping civilians and taking them to an unknown destination. Sources also confirmed that residents of these villages are not armed and do not know the killer of the Houthi leader.

According to local sources, the militias looted a group of houses and continue to surround the village blocking its entrance and exit points. They noted that the rebels asked some mothers to give them gold in exchange for the release of their children. According to them, one woman gave up all her gold to ensure that her toddler son is released.

Recent human rights reports have documented the arrest of about 10,000 people by the Houthi militias sine they entered Sanaa on September 21, 2014.

According to local and international human rights reports, many of the detainees are subjected to torture, beatings, flogging and electrocution, and exposed to frost and ironing with fire, to force them to confess to charges of crimes they did not commit.