AT LEAST six Yemenis were killed in the capital yesterday in a more intense crackdown by security forces on protesters demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down.
At least 34 people have been killed in the last four days and well over 100 have been injured.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to make a decision this week on a resolution to “strongly condemn” the government’s human rights violations. The resolution also urges Mr Saleh to “immediately sign and implement” a peace plan brokered by the Gulf Co-operation Council which requires him to cede power.
Sanaa residents said protesters had been approaching government buildings when they were attacked by security forces.
“The number of dead is now six,” said Tariq Nouman, a doctor at the field hospital set up by protesters in Change Square.
“Until now, we have 50 injured, most of whom are in critical condition, by live bullets and 80 to 90 choking injuries from the tear gas,” said Jamila Yaqoub, another doctor.
On Monday morning, explosions rocked Sanaa in a sharp escalation of violence between the government and opposition forces.
Fighting that erupted late Sunday night between government forces and troops loyal to a rebel commander, Maj Gen Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, continued in another city square.
Mortar and heavy machine-gun fire echoed from the area, which is just south of Sanaa’s large anti-government sit-in. It was not clear how many on each side died in the violence, but a doctor at a field hospital inside the sit-in area said four protesters were killed by stray mortar fire.
Witnesses also said they could hear artillery shells hitting the base of the First Armoured Division, the unit led by Maj Gen al-Ahmar.
Explosions and heavy fighting were also heard in the northern districts of Hasaba and Soufan, a battered area of the city where a tribal war is being fought between tribesmen loyal to the opposition and those loyal to the government.
Street battles broke out in residential neighbourhoods in the northern half of the city, according to witnesses.
On Sunday, demonstrators in the capital escalated their protest by marching into government-held territory, and were fired upon by pro-government forces.
At least five people were killed.
As the uprising appeared to enter a dangerous new phase, Mr Saleh lashed out at western governments in a televised speech before military leaders.
Days before an expected security council resolution on Yemen, he accused western leaders of not understanding the crisis, saying that they “just take their information from . . . the opposition who considers itself oppressed and is vying for its own victory”.
The latest international pressure comes as the protesters, who have been camping on the streets since February and have been frustrated by the political stalemate, have chosen to escalate their campaign by marching out of their protected sit-in area and into government strongholds.
They have been accompanied by disaffected troops who say they are marching to protect protesters. But the presence of armed troops, members of a division that defected from the army, has provided the government with a reason for attack and increased the prospect that the conflict will erupt into civil war.
Mr Saleh, in his Sunday speech, blamed the protesters for the violence, saying the soldiers believed the demonstrators' claim to be peaceful. "The outside world treats this as if it is a peaceful revolution against a political regime and does not see" the government's supporters, said Mr Saleh. – ( New York Times; additional reporting by Reuters)