Sana’a: Yemeni government forces killed three people in the protest hotbed city of Taez on Friday, activists and medical workers said, and the man heading a new government meant to prevent civil war in Yemen said it could unravel if the killing went on.
The Friday killings followed news that violence flared in the Yemen city of Taez when troops loyal to Yemen outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh extensively shelled the city, killing at least 13 people, a medic in the city’s Rowdha hospital told Gulf News.
More than 28 people, including children, were injured.
The shelling comes as the government and the opposition agreed to share the new portfolios of ministries.
A statement from the Defence Ministry said five soldiers were among those killed on Thursday, while 15 soldiers were also wounded.
A Yemeni security official said four tribesmen and four civilians were also killed, mostly in shelling by government troops. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with security regulations.
Protesters
The official also said that earlier in the day, tens of thousands of protesters had taken to Taez streets to denounce the military's actions. He said some of the protesters also attacked houses belonging to members of Saleh's ruling party.
The official added that the military sent in reinforcements to Taez outskirts, boosted troop positions on the hills and mountains surrounding the city and is preventing anyone from entering it.
Government media claimed that five soldiers and 15 injured in clashes with armed militiamen loyal to the opposition’s Joint Meeting Parties.
Looting
A security source told the website of the ministry of defence that the opposition’s gunmen attacked the houses of members of the ruling party in the city and looted their properties. The source added the opposition shelled residential areas, killing two civilians.
“Shelling by Saleh’s forces started overnight and continued till early hours on Thursday. If the regime was targeting armed tribesmen , why do they kill women and children” a protest activist said angrily.
An opposition website, Sahwa.news, reported that the commander of the republican guard brigade, elite forces commanded by Saleh’s elder son, Ahmad in Taez, Murad Al Aoubli and Abdullah Qairan, chief of security forces, were injured in clashes with the armed tribesmen. The government denied this. Gulf News could not verify this news from independent sources.
The city of Taez is the epicenter of massive anti-regime protesters that seek to remove Saleh’s regime from power and charging him for murdering protesters.
Saleh signed a week ago a deal that demands him to transfer power to his deputy in echaange for immunity from prosecution and retains the title of president until another president is elected within 90 days from signing the deal.
Interim government
The formation of the interim government is due to be announced after the opposition agreed to take three key ministries which include Finance, Media and Interior, a senior opposition figure told Gulf News.
“The ruling party will run the ministries of Defence, Foreign affairs and Oil. Mohammad Basindwa [Yemen’s newly-appointed Prime Minister] is close to declare the birth of the new cabinet.”
The figure, who preferred to be anonymous, attributed the escalation of violence in Taez to the delay of forming military council in accordance to the GCC-brokered deal.
“Under the deal,a military council of 14 security members from pro-government and defected units should be formed within days from the signature date. The council is designated to stop violence, remove all military manifestations and return troops to their camps”
Furious protests
The deaths in Taez triggered on Thursday angry protests in the capital and other cities. Thousands of protesters rallied in the city of Taez to denounce the killing of civilians and called for prosecuting the security officials who ordered the killing of the civilian .
“We are here today to demand prosecution of Saleh, his security relatives, commander of republican guard and chief security in the city. We also reject the GCC deal and the interim government” a protest activist told Gulf News from the city’s Freedom Square.
