Heavy fighting between government forces and defected military troops shook the Yemeni capital on Nov 25, killing two people in what could signal the start of a power struggle just days after autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to end his 33-year rule. The clashes pitted Central Security forces commanded by Saleh’s nephew, Col. Yehia Saleh, against troops from the First Armoured Division, headed by Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected and joined the protesters in March. The troops fired machine guns and mortars, some of which landed on civilian homes and scarred the facades of buildings.
A security official said one soldier from each side was killed before the fighting stopped around dawn. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.
The two units have clashed in the past, but Nov 25 fighting, near the home of Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was the first showdown between military units since Saleh signed a US-backed proposal in Riyadh on Nov 23.