Power struggle looms as troops fight each other

HEAVY fighting between government forces and defected military troops shook the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday, killing two people.

The unrest could signal the start of a power struggle just days after autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to end his 33-year rule.

The two units have clashed in the past, but yesterday’s fighting, near the home of vice-president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was the first showdown between military units since Mr Saleh signed a US-backed proposal on Wednesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

In a report released yesterday, Human Rights Watch accused Yemeni forces of committing war crimes by indiscriminately shelling civilian areas including a hospital and a central square in Taiz.