Explosions and heavy gunfire rocked the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, overnight amid renewed fighting between government-backed security forces and protesters loyal to tribal leader Sadek al-Ahmar.
Al-Ahmar said in an e-mailed statement that the government violated a truce agreed with his tribe by attacking his house again. The government accused members of al-Ahmar’s Hashid tribe of attempting to take over the ruling party headquarters.
The conflict between security forces and al-Ahmar’s tribe broke out last week after President Ali Abdullah Saleh declined to sign an accord brokered by Gulf Arab countries requiring him to give up power within 30 days. Violence has escalated across the country since then, with at least 21 people killed in the southern city of Taiz yesterday, one of the bloodiest days in four months of protests. Al-Jazeera television said as many as 57 people may have been killed.
The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a said that the attacks by security forces were “unprovoked and unjustified” and commended youth protesters who have “shown both resolve and restraint.”
In a May 25 briefing with reporters, Saleh called the protests a rebellion against his rule. The president, whose term ends in 2013, has said he’s willing to hold early elections, a call the opposition has so far rejected. The Joint Meeting Parties initially accepted the Gulf Cooperation Council plan.
Saleh’s government has warned that rising social unrest threatens to strengthen al-Qaeda, a concern also expressed by the U.S. The group has sought to use Yemen, the poorest Arab nation, as a base from which to destabilize neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, and for attempted attacks on international targets including two U.S. synagogues last year.
Army planes yesterday carried out air strikes in the coastal city of Zanjibar against Islamist gunmen who had occupied government buildings the previous day, Ali Dahmas, an opposition activist, said in a telephone interview from the city. At least 21 al-Qaeda operatives were killed in the attacks, the state-run Saba news agency said.
