Sanaa, September 23: Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh has returned to the country after spending more than three months in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, a report says.
His return comes days after regime forces launched an intensified crackdown on anti-government protesters, AFP reported on Friday.
More than 100 people are believed to have been killed during the clashes since Sunday.
Reports circulating on Monday revealed that a convoy of Saudi armed vehicles had crossed into Yemen to assist the regime in suppressing the protesters.
Saleh left for Saudi Arabia on June 3 for medical treatment, after he sustained injuries following a rocket attack on the presidential palace.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have since January held regular anti-regime protests in major cities across the country.
The protesters have demanded an end to rampant state corruption and high unemployment in the country as well as insisting on the ouster of Saleh who has ruled the country for nearly 33 years.
Saleh, however, has consistently defied mounting calls for his resignation.
Hundreds of anti-regime protesters have been killed and many more injured since January, by riot police or Saleh’s supporters.
——Agencies