Palace Attack Leaves Yemeni President Wounded
While a television news station run by the opposition claimed Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh had been killed in an attack during Friday prayers in his palace in Sana’a, the government said Saleh sustained minor injuries.
Yasser Al Yamani, a member of the ruling party, told Arabiya TV, “The president is well and is good condition president is alive” and would address the nation soon. A mosque inside the palace was reportedly shelled by a powerful tribal federation even as thousands of anti-government protesters continued to stage protests across Yemen calling for an end to Saleh’s rule.
The prime minister, the deputy prime minister, the speaker and a presidential aide were also wounded in the attack by tribesmen. The government had reportedly struck a ceasefire deal with leaders of Yemen’s most powerful tribe, the Hashid, separated by a few buildings in Sana’a, but it was apparently broken recently.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
A third attempt for mediation by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) had failed recently and Saleh had sent his forces to fight Hashid leaders. The tribal leaders are also shielding anti-government protesters from violent clampdown by security personnel.
The unrest in Yemen started as protests against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption in Yemen in January but it soon turned into an uprising seeking the ouster of the Yemeni president, who has been in power for 32 years.
Saleh has reneged on promises to resign several times now.
