Yemen army kills four

Yemeni troops killed four demonstrators and wounded seven others when they fired on an anti-regime rally in the north, officials and Shia-Muslim rebels said. Protests continued across the country on Friday.

Reuters/Khaled Abdullah

The shooting took place in the village of Semla, 170 kilometres from the capital Sanaa.

Protesters had taken to the streets of the nearby town of Harf Sufyan to protest at corruption and call for an end to Saleh’s 30-year rule, said the rebel website almenpar.net.

The Zaidi rebels – Shia-Muslims also known as Huthis based in the mountainous north – joined anti-Saleh protests last month.

Since 2004, they have fought six wars with Saleh's government, but signed a
truce in February 2010.

In Sanaa, massive crowds gathered for weekly Muslim prayers in a square where anti-Saleh protesters have been camped since 20 February.

Organisers said more than 100,000 people were demonstrating in the capital on Friday.

Meanwhile, counter-demonstrators organised by Saleh's General People's Congress party rallied nearby in the city's Tahrir Square, calling for dialogue.

In the main southern city of Aden, tens of thousands of mourners attended the funerals of protesters killed by security forces during last month's violence.

Rights group Amnesty International says that 27 people have been killed during anti-government protests inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.