Gunfire, shelling kill 19 in Yemen

Gunfire and shelling have killed 19 people, including three children, in southern Yemen. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183586.html

Nineteen people, including three children, have been killed in an exchange of gunfire and shelling as Yemeni troops and armed groups clash in south of the country.

Military and medical officials report that dozens of unidentified gunmen attacked an army position in the southern province of Abyan late Monday night, where nine soldiers and six of the attackers died in the ensuing gunfight, the Associated Press reported.

On Tuesday, clashes also broke out in the southern city of Taizz between gunmen and Yemeni troops near the presidential palace.

Four civilians, including three children, were killed when a tank near the palace fired a shell that landed at a nearby residential area.

Protesters in Yemen have turned out for near daily demonstrations in Yemen's major cities since late January, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment and demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in office since 1978 and mainly backed by the US and Saudi Arabian governments.

Saleh arrived in Saudi Arabia late Saturday along with several other top Yemeni officials allegedly for treatment of wounds they suffered in a rocket attack on the presidential palace in Sana'a on June 3.

Reports say Yemeni Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has taken over as acting president and supreme commander of the armed forces.

Hundreds of people have been killed in a brutal crackdown against anti-government protesters by forces loyal to Saleh since the outbreak of the Yemeni uprising.