Fighting in Sanaa after Saleh goes to Saudi Arabia

Two people are reported killed in clashes in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Sunday morning, after President Ali Abdallah Saleh was flown to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. The fighting appeared to be concentrated in the Al-Hassaba district, where the army has been fighting members of the Hashed tribe.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh (L) and Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi smile at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa February 9, 2011. Reuters/Khaled Abdullah

Earlier the Saudis declared that they had brokered a truce after Saleh was flown to Riyadh for treatment of wounds sustained in Friday’s attack on the presidential palace.

Saleh, whose Saudi medical evacuation plane was met by a senior Saudi official, walked off the aircraft but had visible injuries on his neck, head and face, a source told the Reuters wire service.

Saleh earlier refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council deal which would have seen him resign.

Young protesters celebrated Saleh’s departure in Sanaa and Taez on Sunday, chanting, “This is it, the regime has fallen!”

Vice-President Abdrabah Mansur Hadi has become interim president. He was to meet army chiefs and Saleh’s eldest son, Ahmad, who heads the Republican Guard.

Nine soldiers were killed in two separate ambushes in the southern province of Abyan on Saturday, according to officials who blamed Al-Qaeda for the attacks.