Yemen's Saleh injured in escalating violence as residents scurry for shelter
A spokesman said Yemen's President Saleh was only slightly injured in an attack on his compound, but the president's failure to appear on TV tonight raises questions about his condition.
A man walks past a burning vehicle belonging to Yemeni security forces that was set on fire by antigovernment protesters during clashes in Taiz, Yemen, on Friday, June 3. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded when opposition tribesmen determined to topple him hammered his palace in Sanaa with rockets Friday in a major escalation of nearly two weeks of fighting with government forces.
Yemen Lens/AP
Sanaa, Yemen
Updated at 4:00 p.m. ET with news of Saleh's radio address.
Turmoil erupted in the affluent Hadda district of the Yemeni capital this afternoon as fighting erupted near the home of prominent tribal leader Hamid al-Ahmar. Several moments later, mortar shells struck the presidential compound, injuring President Ali Abdullah Saleh and several other prominent officials.
Residents scrambled from restaurants, leaving their lunches on the table as rocket-propelled grenades flew across a major thoroughfare. Some of the locals, already armed as a precautionary measure, dove behind cars and upturned tables and began firing randomly in desperate confusion.
“Get out, can’t you hear the artillery?” screamed one shop owner at confused residents as he slammed the steel doors of his store shut.
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Fighting in Sanaa over the past 10 days has been the fiercest clashes in the capital since 1962, when a revolution launched to topple a despotic imam ended in victory for the republicans – a group of rebel soldiers that included Mr. Saleh, who eventually became president in 1978. Now he faces an unprecedented challenge from tribesmen, rebels, and southern secessionists who have joined forces to oppose his 32-year rule.
Saleh TV appearance postponed until he recovers
