Sanaa, December 01: At least eight people have been killed in clashes between forces loyal to Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition tribesmen in the southern city of Taizz, medics say.
Medical sources said 20 people were also injured in the fighting that broke out in Taizz on Thursday, AFP reported.
According to witnesses, the fighting began during the early hours of the day as regime troops tried to storm the city center.
Taizz city center is a stronghold of armed tribesmen that have been backing the popular Yemeni revolution since it began in late January.
Taizz residents and medical personnel reported that regime forces shelled several neighborhoods of the city on Tuesday, killing one person and destroying dozens of homes.
Yemeni demonstrators once again took to the streets in the capital Sana’a on Tuesday to demand the trial of Saleh.
Protesters hold the Yemeni dictator responsible for the killing of hundreds of people since the beginning of the popular uprising in the country.
Saleh signed a deal brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on November 23. Under the deal, he transferred power to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution. However, Yemeni protesters have strongly rejected any deal that grants immunity to Saleh.
On Saturday, Hadi announced February 21, 2012 as the date for a presidential election in the country, which will mark the first vote in Yemen since 2006.
The Yemeni vice president appointed head of the opposition coalition Mohammed Basindwa as the new prime minster on Sunday. Basindwa is tasked with forming a national unity government by mid-December.
UN Security Council Resolution 2014, which was unanimously passed on October 21, expressed “grave concern” about the situation in Yemen.
On Monday, UN Security Council President José Filipe Moraes Cabral said, “The members of the Security Council reiterated that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses [in Yemen] should be held accountable.”
—Agencies