Street battles resume after Yemen truce breaks down

FIGHTING raged in the streets of Yemen's capital yesterday after a tenuous ceasefire between tribal groups and forces loyal to president Ali Abdullah Saleh broke down, edging the impoverished Arab state closer to civil war.

Global powers have been pressing Mr Saleh to sign a Gulf-mediated deal to hand over power to stem spreading chaos in Yemen, a haven for al-Qaeda militants and neighbour to the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. "The ceasefire agreement has ended," a government official said, adding that tribal groups had seized a government building.

United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said her office had received as yet not fully confirmed reports that more than 50 people had been killed by Yemeni government forces since Sunday.

Yesterday, there were three main flashpoints - street fighting in the capital, government troops gunning down protesters in Taiz and a battle with al-Qaeda and Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar. Last night, heavy explosions rocked a northern district of Sanaa that houses the headquarters of an army division headed by Ali Mohsen, a general who has joined the opposition.

"I think it is the first time missiles are being used in the street battles," a resident said.

A government spokesman earlier suggested breakaway army units had attacked the ruling party's HQ in Sanaa.

"What was new in today's clashes is the use of armoured vehicles… which the Ahmar (tribesmen] don't have," Abdu al-Janadi, a deputy information minister, said.

Sporadic fighting continued in the nearby Hasaba district, where residents hid in basements.

Battles in the capital overnight brought an end to a truce between Mr Saleh's forces and tribesmen brokered at the weekend after more than 115 people were killed street battles.

Mr Saleh has defied calls from the West, elements in his own military and tens of thousands of protesters to end his 33-year-rule, which has brought Yemen close to financial ruin.

He has also exasperated his rich Gulf Arab neighbours by three times agreeing to step down, and three times pulling out at the very last minute to cling on to power.

Mohammed al-Surmi, a doctor at a Sanaa hospital, said two dead and 17 wounded were brought in. Full casualty figures were not immediately available as fighting continued last night.

"Three different dynamics are playing out at the same time," said Ginny Hill, who runs the Yemen Forum at the Chatham House think-tank in London.

The newest element is the street revolution while the power struggle among the elites and fragmentation of the Arabian Peninsula country have been playing out for some time, she said.She added: "Saleh's departure could be seen as the beginning of a contested and potentially lengthy process."

Mr Saleh's forces fired on hundreds of protesters in Taiz, about 120 miles south of Sanaa, who were trying to gather at the focal point of rallies dubbed "Freedom Square", witnesses said.

At least three people were killed and scores wounded, medical sources said.

Further south, government troops and locals have been trying to dislodge Islamist militants from Zinjibar after they seized the town of 20,000 at the weekend.