Sanaa, May 26: Tribesmen who attacked key facilities in Yemen to avenge the accidental killing of a provincial official have agreed a truce until an inquiry is complete, a tribal source said on Wednesday.
“Tribal dignitaries met representatives of the interior ministry and the security services, and agreed a truce until Friday evening pending the results of the investgation,” a tribal source said.
Angry Yemeni tribesmen attacked an oil pipeline, petrol stations, power lines and government buildings on Tuesday to avenge the death of their kinsman Sheikh Jaber Ali al-Shabwani, a top provincial official, in a botched anti-Qaeda air raid in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa.
Two tribesmen were killed and a policeman wounded in the unrest, a tribal source said.
The high security council — Yemen’s highest security authority — expressed regret on Tuesday over Shabwani’s death in the Yemeni air strike in which the Al-Qaeda suspect targeted, identified as Mohammed Said bin Jardan, was wounded but got away, security sources said.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered the formation of a commission of inquiry into the events in Marib, the council added.
Four of Shabwani’s bodyguards were also killed in Monday night’s strike, security sources said.
—Agencies