SANAA, Yemen: A Yemeni Shia leader has said the government's attacks on Shia civilians amount to "genocide".

Abdul Malik Al-Houthi also said that his followers will continue their fight to establish a Shia theocracy in the country.

Talking to the Associated Press near the northern Yemeni city of Saada, he said: "Cities and villages are being subjected nowadays to the most dreadful forms of annihilation by the corrupt authorities, and the citizens are the only damaged side because of this fierce bombing."

Aid organizations have previously said that several Shia villages near Saada have been almost destroyed by heavy fighting and estimated that at least 5,000 people in the area have been forced from their homes.

"We have the capabilities and the spirit to continue the war, launched against us by this unjust authority."

Al-Houthi also rejected reports that Shias were receiving money and support from abroad.

"These are lies, we didn't receive any funds from outside," he said, accusing the Yemeni government of itself having foreign loyalties.

"It [the government] is the one that is loyal to America, and the one that is mobilizing, attacking, destroying and slaying its own people, and shedding their blood for the sake of satisfying America."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, several local officials in Saada and a doctor in the region said 1,500 government troops and 2,000 Shias had been killed in the fighting since the beginning of the year. They also said 2,800 soldiers had been wounded.

Government officials have said the deaths on both sides were in the hundreds.