Yemen’s Saleh to stay in Saudi for now: official

Speculation about Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s health and the likelihood of his return to Yemen have been rife since he flew to neighbouring Saudi Arabia for medical treatment last month following an assassination attempt.

Yemen ruling party spokesman Tarek al-Shami denied media speculation that Saleh could come back by July 17.

“That talk is not true. It is up to the doctors to decide on the date of the president’s return,” he said.

Tens of thousands of protesters have camped out daily in cities across Yemen demanding an end to Saleh’s rule.

As demonstrations drag into their sixth month, many Yemenis are frustrated they have been unable to force the shrewd political survivor out of power.

On Friday, up to 7,000 people marched through Yemen’s third city Taiz, some 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, which also saw large anti-Saleh protests after Friday prayers.

Protests have paralysed a number of cities, especially Taiz, where armed men siding with the opposition have clashed with government forces as Yemen’s political stalemate wears on.

In Taiz, several rounds of mortars were fired into neighbourhoods where armed supporters of the opposition were suspected of hiding, local officials said.

Residents said six civilians including a child were killed and at least seven wounded in an attack on the al-Masbah district housing a senior officer loyal to top general Ali Mohsen, who defected from Saleh in March.

The officer himself was not among those killed but his son died in the attack, residents said.

Elsewhere, armed men siding with protesters ambushed a car carrying the district’s head of security, killing him, two bodyguards and wounding three other members of his entourage, a local government official said.

While veteran leaders in Tunisia and Egypt bowed to popular demands they quit, Saleh has resisted international pressure on him to step down, leaving impoverished Yemen in political limbo.

Anti-Saleh protests had previously united Houthis and the opposition, but rifts began to appear when armed opposition members took over military and government sites.