Yemeni President injured in shelling on Presidential palace

Yemeni President and Prime Minister suffer injuries in attack on Presidential Palace.


Afp June 03, 2011

SANAA: Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded along with his premier and other officials when shells fired by dissident tribesmen smashed into a mosque on Friday, as fighting spread and Yemen teetered towards civil war. However, opposition media reported that the President’s wounds were fatal.

A leader of the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) party told AFP that Saleh was "lightly wounded in the back of his head," in an attack a security official said also killed four officers of the elite Republican Guard.

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar was also wounded, but the extent of his injuries was not immediately clear.

A source close to the presidency said deputy prime minister General Rashad al-Alimi was "critically wounded" when shells hit the mosque inside the presidential palace compound.

Officials said parliament chief Yahya al-Raie was also critically hurt, and the other wounded included Saleh's private secretary Abdo Burji, Abdulaziz Abdulghani, head of Yemen's consultative council, GPC MP Yasser al-Awadi and Sanaa Governor Noman Duweik.

The mosque attack came as fighting that has killed scores of people in north Sanaa spread to the south of the capital of the poverty-stricken Arabian Peninsula country.

In an assurance to the Yemeni public, state television later said that the president was "well," and the defence ministry website 26sep.net reported Saleh would "issue a statement in the coming hours."

"The president, may God protect him, is well and in good health and the news spread by Suhail channel is groundless," state television said.

Suhail TV, a channel controlled by Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a leader of the biggest opposition party, had said Saleh was killed in the shelling.

Sheikh Hamid is brother of Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, whom GPC spokesman Tariq al-Shami blamed for the attack.

"The Ahmar (tribe) have crossed all red lines," Shami said.

Later on Friday, Yemeni troops, who have deployed heavy weaponry in their battle against the tribesmen since Tuesday, sent a shell crashing into Sheikh Hamid's home.

Shelling in Hada neighbourhood also targeted the homes of their two other brothers Hemyar and Mizhij, and that of dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.

Sheikh Hamid spoke to AFP by phone and accused Saleh of orchestrating the mosque attack as an "excuse to shell and destroy my home and the homes of my brothers Hemyar and Mizhij and that of Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar in an attempt to drag Yemen into civil war."

Saleh last month ordered the arrest of the 10 Ahmar brothers, all sons of Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar who was the president's main ally until his death.

Three shells also struck near the university campus in the city centre where Saleh opponents have staged a sit-in since late January.

After a brief lull at dawn, artillery and heavy machine-gun fire rocked the Al-Hassaba neighbourhood of northern Sanaa where Sheikh Sadiq has his base, witnesses said.

They said that during the fighting the headquarters of national airline Yemenia was burnt down.

Even as the fighting raged, rival demonstrators took to the streets of Sanaa, witnesses said.

Hundreds of anti-Saleh demonstrators gathered at Change Square, near the university, for a day of solidarity with Taez, south of Sanaa, where security forces this week smashed a months-long sit-in protest at a cost of more than 50 lives.

As on past Fridays, the Muslim day of weekly prayers, a large crowd of Saleh supporters also gathered at a square near the presidential palace.

In Taez, security forces backed by Republican Guards fired in the air to prevent youths from rallying in Tahrir Square for Friday prayers, an AFP photographer said.

More than 60 people have now been confirmed killed in the fighting in Sanaa since a fragile four-day truce collapsed on Tuesday between Ahmar's heavily armed tribesmen and troops loyal to Saleh.

Saleh, who has been in power in Sanaa since 1978, has faced nationwide protests against his rule for the past four months.

Nationwide, more than 200 demonstrators have been killed since the protests erupted, according to an AFP tally based on reports from medics.

Last month when Saleh refused to sign a plan by Yemen's Arab neighbours in the Gulf for him to step down in return for immunity, Ahmar fighters seized public buildings in Sanaa, sparking clashes with troops loyal to the president.

On the diplomatic front, Gulf Cooperation Council head Abdellatif Zayani said on Friday he was keeping up efforts to seek a negotiated settlement.

And the White House said Thursday its top counter-terrorism aide John Brennan, currently in the Gulf, was working with US allies in the region to build pressure on Saleh to immediately cede power.

 

COMMENTS (2)

I_love_Pakistan | 12 years ago | Reply All Monarchs are being parked in Saudi Arabia. Who is the next? Probably Khalifa from Bahrain.
Paras Vikmani | 12 years ago | Reply He should step down ASAP
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