Yemen president injured in attack

[unknownprince]

Yemen president injured in attack
Fri Jun 3, 2011 12:31PM


Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been injured during a heavy missile attack on the presidential palace in the capital, Sana'a.


Witnesses say the presidential palace was hit by at least two shells on Friday and that heavy clashes are taking place inside the compound.

Yemeni security officials have confirmed the report, saying several high-ranking officials were also wounded after several shells fired by dissident tribesmen hit a mosque in the presidential compound.

A leader of the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) party told AFP that Saleh was "lightly wounded in the back of his head."

"The president, may God protect him, is well and in good health and the news spread by Suhail channel is groundless," state television said shortly after the attack, referring to a opposition-controlled channel.

Suhail channel has claimed that Saleh was killed while trying to get out of the palace.

A source close to the presidency said deputy prime minister General Rashad al-Alimi and Parliament Speaker Yahya al-Raiee were critically wounded in the attack.

According to government sources, Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, Saleh's private secretary Abdo Burji, Abdulaziz Abdulghani, head of Yemen's consultative council, GPC MP Yasser al-Awadi and Sana'a Governor Noman Duweik were also injured in the attack.

Four presidential guards were also killed in the attack.

The attack on the presidential palace came shortly after forces loyal to Saleh shelled the home of Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a brother of the head of powerful Hashid tribal federation whose members have been fighting a deadly battle with the regime in Sana'a over the past two weeks.

Nearly 200 people have been killed during the heavy streets clashes in Sana'a over the past ten days.

HM/MMN

[unknownprince]

Yemen’s President injured after shelling

Yemen’s President injured after shelling





Jun 3, 2011 18:23 Moscow Time






The TV channel Al Arabiya reports that Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh was only slightly injured when his palace was shelled on Friday, while the opposition claims that he was killed.
The channel also reports that at least 4 president’s guards were injured during this shelling.
Earlier, France Press, referring to the data of Yemen's ruling party, reported that a mosque near the president’s palace has been shelled, and the country’s deputy prime minister and chairman of parliament were injured.
The deputy prime minister is in a critical condition.
Fighting still on in Yemen
Fierce fighting between supporters and opponents of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh is going on near the president’s palace in the country’s capital Sana, the TV channel Al Arabiya reports.
Earlier on Friday, the country’s deputy prime minister, speaker of parliament and several ministers were injured while a mosque near the president’s palace, where they were, was shelled. The deputy prime minister is in a critical state.
The opposition claims that President Saleh has been killed, while Al Arabiya reports that he has been only slightly wounded in his head.
Yemen accuses Hashid tribe of attacks
Yemen’s government has accused the opposition Hashid tribe of shelling a mosque near the presidential palace in San’a. The capital faced an attack, in which President Ali Abdullah Saleh was injured together with the country’s PM, parliamentary speaker and several top-officials. Four soldiers of the presidential guard were killed.
However, the tribe’s representatives deny accusations. The federation led by Sheikh Ahmar joined the anti-government opposition in March and since then has been fighting for democratic freedoms in the country. Overall death toll from the clashes between tribal opposition and pro-president forces reached 150.

[unknownprince]

Yemen President Wounded, Gives Audio Address

Yemen President Wounded, Gives Audio Address

Elizabeth Arrott | Cairo June 03, 2011 Photo: AP

Yemenis watch a TV broadcasting an audio broadcast of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in a hotel in Taiz, Yemen, Friday, June 3, 2011




An audio recording attributed to Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been broadcast on state television, hours after an attack on a mosque in his presidential compound. Yemen state media say the attack killed three guards and an imam.

The voice of what appeared to be a subdued President Saleh was heard thanking his fellow Yemenis for their concern about his condition, which he said was alright.

He also wished a speedy recovery to others injured in the attack, and offered his condolences to the families of those killed. Saleh was wounded in a rocket attack Friday in the presidential mosque in Sana'a during midday prayers. He reportedly is being treated in a military hospital.

The strike, the first on the president's compound, came during fierce street fighting between government troops and tribal forces in the capital and violence in other Yemeni cities, bringing the unrest to the heart of the government.

Shortly after the attack, officials said Saleh would appear at a news conference, an apparent bid to dispel opposition and some media reports that the president had been more seriously injured or possibly killed.

Deputy Information Minister Abduh al-Janadi later went on state TV to explain the delay.

Janadi said Saleh is in good health, and the news conference was postponed because of the "scratches" that the president received. His statement was at odds with comments by a Yemeni diplomat appearing on Arabiya television, who said Saleh was in the front row in the mosque, where the heaviest casualties occurred and might spend four weeks in the hospital. It was not clear from the audio recording which account better reflected the situation.

Officials blamed the attack on forces loyal to the al-Ahmar clan, which have been battling government troops in the capital for nearly two weeks. There has been no official claim of responsibility, though, and the opposition to the president includes government forces who have defected in recent weeks.

Earlier in the day, government troops had fired on houses belonging to members of the al-Ahmar family, as well as an opposition military officer. A government official said he believed the attack on the presidential compound - the first of its kind - was in retaliation.

Forces loyal to tribal leader Sadeq al-Ahmar have been growing in number, with reinforcements trying to enter the city from the north. The sheikh, who heads the Hashid tribal federation, is pushing for Saleh to step down. But the president has three times rejected a regionally-mediated plan that would see a transition of power. Violence also is continuing in Taiz against political protesters, and in Zinjibar against Islamic militants who have seized control of the city.

The various tribal and Islamist forces, as well as high-ranking military defectors, are turning what began four months ago as peaceful political protests into what many observers fear is close to all-out civil war.

[graveyardofempires]

wth

[unknownprince]

YouTube - ‪More gunfire heard in Yemeni capital‬‏