Pro-Saleh forces clash with Yemen army units Skip to main content

Pro-Saleh forces clash with Yemen army units

Presidential guards loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, have clashed with army units who have backed opposition groups and protesters demanding Saleh's resignation.

The clashes took place in the town of Mukalla, in the eastern Hadramout province, on Thursday.

A colonel was wounded, but it was not clear whether he was on the side of the elite Republican guard, which is loyal to Saleh, or the regular army, a local government source told the Reuters news agency.

General Ali Mohsen, commander of the country's northwestern zone, said earlier this week that he was supporting pro-democracy protesters who have been demonstrating for weeks, calling for Saleh to leave office after three decades in power.

'Weapons smuggling' bid foiled

Meanwhile, police in Dubai say they have foiled an attempt to smuggle 16,000 pistols into Yemen from Turkey.

Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai's police chief, said in a statement on Thursday that his forces had intercepted the Turkish-made pistols, said to be worth $4.36 million.

Tamim said five Arab residents of the United Arab Emirates and one Turkish man were arrested in the operation. The consignment landed in Dubai by ship, for transit to Saada, in northern Yemen.

Dubai police say the weapons were hidden in a cargo shipping container, and were discovered in a Dubai warehouse two weeks ago. The weapons were said to be hidden behind boxes of furniture wrapped in plastic.

Police say the shipment passed through an Egyptian port before arriving at the Gulf emirate.

Tamim also showed photographs of the shipment, which is the largest arms bust in the Emirates' history.

It remains unclear who the intended recepients of the weapons were, but Tamim said they were "definitely not [going] to the government".

Yemen, which sits on a major shipping lane and borders oil giant Saudi Arabia, is the second most heavily armed country in the world in per capita terms. Around half its 23 million people own a gun.

UK urges Yemen exit

The United Kingdom has all but closed its embassy in Yemen, and has urged its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible in order to avoid being caught up in the country's deepening unrest.

The country's foreign office said on Wednesday that it was leaving only a skeleton staff at its embassy in Sanaa, and called on any Britons still in the country to "leave now", as the government may not be in a position to offer them consular assistance if the situation worsens.

Yemen has seen increasingly bloody violence, as the embattled Saleh clings to power amid a wave of revolt. Saleh on Wednesday took on emergency powers, suspending the constitution, barring protests and giving far-reaching powers to his security forces.

The political opposition has joined with protesters in their demand for Saleh to leave office, and there is a likelihood of further violence in the country, which has already seen dozens of demonstrators killed in clashes with authorities.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/20113249545393676.html

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