Sanaa airport closed after fierce fighting

Malegaon: Sanaa’s international airport was closed and flights were diverted to Aden in the south as heavy clashes erupted between tribesmen and Republican Guards in the capital May 25, Arab News correspondent reported from Sanaa in Yemen.

Tribesmen belonging to Arhab, the tribe of preacher Abdul Majid Al-Zindani were engaged in running battles with the guards. The United States has categorized Al-Zindani as a "terrorism financier" and has put sanctions on him, he said quoting its sources.

Elsewhere, security forces and opposition tribesmen loyal to Sadeq Al-Ahmer clashed for the third straight day. Witnesses said dozens of armed tribesmen were killed Wednesday in gunbattles with the well-trained Republican Guard regiments in the Al-Hasbah neighborhood, near the house of Al-Ahmer. The witnesses could not give an exact figure for the fatalities.

On Wednesday, Al-Ahmer's men occupied the ministries of trade and tourism and the building of the state-run news agency, Saba.

Several tribal chiefs came under fire while trying to arrange a truce between the forces of Al-Ahmer and the government.

The Republican Guards sealed the capital in an apparent attempt to prevent armed tribesmen from the neighboring provinces from entering the city.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh was defiant in the face of international appeals for him to step down. He said he would neither offer any more concessions nor receive any orders from anyone.

"We will confront any person who tries to cause chaos with all possible means at our disposal," Saleh told a group of foreign journalists in the capital.
 

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Picture of the Day

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov witnessing the signing of agreements between two countries, in New Delhi on May 18, 2011.

(Photo: BM Meena)