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| An man injured from fighting in the north Sanaa © AFP |
SANAA (AFP) - Security forces in the Yemeni capital battled heavily armed supporters of the country's most powerful tribal leader on Thursday as President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the tribesman's arrest.
The leader, Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, in turn accused Saleh of dragging the country into civil war, speaking after hours of clashes late Wednesday and overnight in which at least 24 people were killed.
Meanwhile a website linked to the defence ministry said 28 more people died when an explosion ripped through an ammunition plant belonging to the al-Ahmar tribal opposition.
This could not be immediately confirmed independently.
Amid the escalating bloodshed, Washington, which has urged Saleh to quit, ordered what it termed "non-emergency" embassy staff to leave the country.
It added: "The (State) Department urges US citizens not to travel to Yemen. US citizens currently in Yemen should depart while commercial transportation is available."
Saleh has ordered the arrest of the powerful dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq and his nine brothers, the defence ministry said.
"The president has ordered the arrest of the sons of Ahmar to bring them to justice for armed rebellion," the ministry's 26sep.net news website said in a text message.
The state news agency Saba said that in Wednesday clashes in the city six civilians, including one woman, were killed.
Tribal sources said that 12 soldiers from the elite Republican Guard and six civilians and tribesmen were killed in other clashes.
The latest fighting brought to at least 68 the number killed since Monday, according to an AFP tally based on reports by medics, the government and tribal sources.
Scores were also wounded in the fighting, the sources said.
"Twenty-eight people were killed in an explosion at an ammunition store belonging to Hamid al-Ahmar" in Sanaa, the defence ministry's website 26sep.net said.
Hamid al-Ahmar is one of Sheikh Sadiq's brothers, a leading businessman, and head of Yemen's largest opposition party -- the Islamist Al-Islah (reform) party.
The clashes have pitted loyalist security forces against clansmen belonging to several tribes fighting in support of powerful tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq who rallied to the opposition in March.
The fighting that spread to the Arhab district north of the airport late on Wednesday has prompted its closure and flights were diverted to the airport of the southern city of Aden, aviation and tribal sources said.
Airport director Naji al-Marqab insisted it was functioning normally on Thursday, Saba reported.
The bombings echoed through the capital as what residents described as the fiercest clashes since fighting began on Monday.
The clashes where centred in Al-Hasaba district, where the home of Sheikh Sadiq is located.
"I couldn't sleep until 5:00 am from the sound of shelling," one resident in the neighbourhood told AFP.
Medical officials said the toll is expected to rise as ambulances that could not gain access to the area on Wednesday were going in on Thursday despite ongoing gun battles.
The Yemeni president, in power since 1978, has been resisting massive diplomatic pressure to sign up to proposals by his impoverished country's wealthy Gulf neighbours that would see him leave office in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution.
Heavily armed clansmen of Sheikh Sadiq have been fighting the Guards, other security forces and Saleh loyalists since the president again rejected the Gulf plan at the weekend.
Sheikh Sadiq, one of the 10 sons of Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar, who was Saleh's main ally until his death, is capable of rallying thousands of armed supporters, tribal sources say.
Tribal loyalties run deep in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, which has an estimated 60 million firearms in private hands, roughly three for every citizen.
The clashes came despite an appeal by Saleh late on Tuesday for supporters of Sheikh al-Ahmar to "cease their aggression on security forces."
Yemen has been seen as a key partner in the US "war on terror" but in recent days Washington has stepped up its pressure for Saleh to sign up to the Gulf plan for his departure.
On Wednesday President Barack Obama repeated his call for Saleh to step aside.
"We call upon President Saleh to move immediately on his commitment to transfer power," Obama said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London.
Later on Wednesday Washington warned its nationals "of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.
"The Department of State has ordered all eligible family members of US government employees as well as certain non-emergency personnel to depart Yemen," it said in a travel warning.
Clansmen of the Arhab tribe of hardline cleric Abdul Majid al-Zindani, who faces US sanctions as a "terrorism financier," have also been involved in the fighting with Saleh loyalists.
© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license
