Yemeni loyalist forces fought street battles with guards from a
powerful tribal federation whose leader has sided with protesters
demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, witnesses said
on Tuesday.
At least four gunmen were killed in the clashes, which dimmed prospects
for a political solution to a transition of power tussle following a
nearly four-month-old revolt inspired by protests that swept aside the
leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.
"The clashes were violent. The sound of machinegun and mortar fire
could be heard everywhere. I saw smoke rising from the entrance of the
interior ministry," one witness told Reuters.
The shooting, in the sandbagged streets surrounding a fortified mansion
belonging to the wealthy and politically powerful al-Ahmar clan, pitted
loyalist forces against guards of Sadiq al-Ahmar, head of the Hashed
tribal federation from which Saleh also hails.
Four tribal guards were killed, and six other people were wounded, an
opposition leader said. Fighting in the same area of the capital on
Monday killed seven people, among them a bystander, a police officer
and five tribal gunmen.
The government accused Ahmar's men of igniting the clashes on Monday by
firing on a school and the headquarters of state news agency Saba.
Ahmar's office said government forces opened fire when his guards
prevented them from entering a school where Ahmar said Saleh loyalists
were stockpiling weapons.
Early on Tuesday, tribal mediators were holding talks in the Ahmar
house to try to bring an end to the fighting, a source in Sadeq
al-Ahmar's office said. But the government said the mediation had not
brought a resolution.
"The al-Ahmar sons and their gang turned on the mediation and fired
rockets and bullets heavily on government installations and citizens'
homes," the defense ministry said in a statement. Reuters
