16 die in Yemen unrest

AN ACTIVIST was killed as government forces shelled Yemen’s rebel stronghold of Taiz for a third day yesterday, despite a call by the nation’s acting ruler to end the fighting.

The death increased to at least 16 the number of people killed in three days of fighting between troops loyal to outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition fighters.

Saleh handed power last month to vice-president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, in a bid to defuse opposition to his rule, but there has been no sign of the violence letting up.

Residents said government forces were using artillery, tank shells and rocket fire in residential areas yesterday in western Taiz, trapping some 3,000 families in its business district, some 120 miles south of the capital, Sanaa. Gunmen loyal to the opposition responded with whatever weapons they had to hand.

But tens of thousands of residents defied the shelling and marched in the city centre demanding that Saleh face trial. Medics said one of the demonstrators was shot and killed by a sniper during the demonstration.

An official from Saleh’s party said fresh violence flared up amid differences with opposition parties over the composition of a military committee agreed upon as part of the transition deal signed last month in Saudi Arabia to end ten months of protests that have paralysed Yemen.

Ten people died in fighting on Thursday, including five government soldiers, and five more were killed on Friday, medics and security sources have reported. A rights centre run by the opposition put the death toll at 21.