Yemen President speaks after attack
Yemen’s President Saleh delivers an audio speech after receiving ‘minor injuries’ during an attack by rebels on the presidential palace in Sana’a that left 7 guards dead.
In a brief audio speech on state television President Saleh said the attack on his palace was by an “outlaw gang of his tribal foes,” blaming the Hashed tribe led by Sadeq al-Ahmar who has been battling Saleh loyalists in Sanaa.
“I salute our armed forces and the security forces for standing up firmly to confront this challenge by an outlaw gang that has nothing to do with the so-called youth revolution,” Saleh said.
“Seven officers were martyred. We will follow these culprits sooner or later in cooperation with all security services,” he continued.
Earlier, the deputy information minister earlier told a news conference that Saleh had suffered minor injuries from the attack but was in “good health.”
“His Excellency, the president, is in good health and has postponed (a planned) press conference … due to scratches. He will recover, God willing,” said Abdu al-Janadi.
“There is nothing that affects his health,” he continued, adding that an investigation on the attack has been launched.
The state news agency Saba reported a shell landed in the front part of a mosque inside the presidential palace where Saleh and senior government officials were present, killing an imam and a number of presidential guards.
Read more: Days of rage: Yemen peers into the abyss
The United States condemned violence in Yemen and called on all sides to pursue an orderly and peaceful process of transferring power, White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Friday.
“Violence cannot resolve the issues that confront Yemen, and today’s events cannot be a justification for a new round of fighting,” he said
The attacks are a sign of the mounting unrest in Yemen, which began with peaceful protests in January against President Saleh’s 32-year rule inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
There are fears the country is sliding towards civil war as forces of the Hashed tribal confederation – led by Sadeq al-Ahmar – battle troops still loyal to Saleh. The President has refused to step down despite numerous deals brokered by Gulf states for him to be given immunity if he does so.
Fierce fighting is continuing all around the Yemeni capital, with residents cowering in their homes as explosions rock the city.
More than 370 people have been killed, at least 155 of them in the last 10 days, in the uprising against President Saleh’s rule in the impoverished nation.
Yemen is engulfed in multiple conflicts, with street battles between tribal groups and Saleh’s forces in Sana’a, popular unrest across the country, and fighting against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and other Islamist militants who have seized the coastal city of Zinjibar.
The capital is split, with Saleh loyalists holding the south against tribesmen and renegade military units in the north.
