Houthi militant holds a weapon as he secures a street , in Yemen’s capital Sanaa

Yemen’s Houthi movement militants managed to detain a local journalist and five activists after a raid on an apartment in the capital Sana’a on Saturday, according to activists, Reuters reported.

The gunmen stomped the apartment at dawn and took journalist Nabil al-Sharabi and the activists to an unknown location. The Houthis had fired rounds of bullets when the men attempted to escape, activists said.

Moreover, representatives of the Iran-allied Houthi movement were not immediately reachable for comment. Human Rights Watch says the Houthis have detained numerous political figures, activists, and journalists.

Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who had fled Sana’a in 2015 after the Houthis seized his presidential palace, are battling the Houthis and loyalists of the country’s former leader in a war that has killed about 6,000 people.

Sharabi, the detained journalist, had worked for local daily Akhbar al-Youm, which the Houthis closed down after taking control of Sana’a in 2014.

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate says the Houthis have been holding 12 other journalists for several months after accusing them of acting against the movement and of supporting the legitimate government of Yemen.

Last week unidentified militants kidnaped and later released two journalists and a driver working for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Arabic TV channel in the southwestern city of Taiz.

Yemen is ranked 168th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. The group said last week that at least 17 journalists and media workers were being held hostage in Yemen by armed groups including the Houthis.