Government officials in Yemen say President Ali Abdullah Saleh survived the assault by tribal foes, but an opposition TV station says he was killed in the attack. As battles erupt around the capital, there is speculation he has been wounded.
Reporting from Sana, Yemen and Baghdad—
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh survived a severe attack on his compound Friday, according to government officials, as pitched battles erupted around the capital of Sana.Sana has been convulsed by nearly two weeks of fighting between Saleh and the powerful Ahmar brothers, who head the president's own Hashid tribal confederation. The fighting took a deadly turn Friday with the assault on the president's residence in the southern section of Yemen.
"Several senior officials were injured in the horrific attack on the presidential palace. However, President Saleh was not killed in the attack," he said on condition of anonymity.
Officials at first said Saleh, who has been in power nearly 33 years, would address the nation in the wake of the attack. They later scrapped that plan and said that he would issue a statement, leading to speculation that he had been wounded.
Yemeni state television reported that three of Saleh's guards, an imam and a number of military officers and officials were wounded in the shelling of the compound's mosque.
A Yemeni official said the president was expected to condemn what he believed to be a tribal-led coup against a legitimate elected government.
The assault on Saleh's palace followed a morning attack by Saleh's security forces on the home of prominent tribal leader Hamid Ahmar, one of the 10 brothers leading fighters in the nearly two-week-long street battle against government forces in the capital.
AK-47 fire and blasts from rocket-propelled grenades broke out in the affluent district just as crowds of local residents began gathering for lunch, sending them fleeing frantically in all directions in their SUVs. Artillery shells rained down from surrounding mountains as fighting escalated to its highest levels following the direct attempt on the president's life.
As residents fled for cover in the Hadda district, fighting in the Hasaba district, home to many of the Ahmar family, resumed as artillery was fired from the surrounding mountains.
As fighting intensifies, clashes along roads leading to Sana have erupted as tribesmen loyal to the Ahmar brothers answered calls to reinforce their "brothers" in the capital.
"Ali Saleh was targeted because he targeted the Ahmar family with death. It was a big mistake," opposition leader Hassan Zeid told Al Arabiya television. "[Saleh] knew that they have the ability to hit him. He knew that they have the capability to reach him."
Boone, a special correspondent, reported from Sana and Parker from Baghdad. Staff writer Raheem Salman in Baghdad contributed to this report.
ned.parker@latimes.com
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