At least 49 anti-government armed tribesmen and 15
government soldiers were killed in intensified clashes on Tuesday in
the capital Sanaa as smoke poured out from buildings of the Interior
Ministry, officials from both sides said.
They said hundreds from both sides were injured.
Yemeni State TV channel also reported that at least one civilian was
killed and five others, including a woman and four children were
injured in Sanaa on Tuesday.
An official of the Interior Ministry told Xinhua
that the armed tribes of the opposition leader Sadeq al-Ahmar, who is
the chieftain of the most powerful Hashid tribe, fired mortar shells
and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) against the ministry and a nearby
security camp, killing 15 security forces and setting the highest floor
of the Interior Ministry on fire and blazing a small building of the
security camp.
Al-Ahmar, who backed protests to oust Yemeni
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, hired around 3,000 armed tribesmen from
the Houthi- led Shiite rebels stationed in northern province of Saada,
according to Houthi sources.
An official of al-Ahmar's office told Xinhua that
heavy attacks were launched by government forces against the
residential compound of al-Ahmar, leaving at least 49 gunmen dead as
RPG and mortar shells igniting fire inside al-Ahmar's compound.
Meanwhile, the official of the Interior Ministry
said condition of anonymity that the government forces fired a rocket
at al-Ahmar 's compound near the Interior Ministry building.
The official of al-Ahmar's office said the explosion destroyed many parts of the residential compound of Sheikh al-Ahmar.
"The explosion also killed many fighters of al-Ahmar
and injured many tribal leaders who were in al-Ahmar's house trying to
mediate a ceasefire," the official said.
The two sides have traded fire since midday Monday, he added.
The clashes on Monday killed at least 14 government
soldiers and seven armed tribesmen, 61 others have been wounded,
according to a security official.
The clashes erupted a day after Saleh refused to
sign a Gulf- brokered deal to ease him out of power and end the
political standoff. Xinhua
