Yemen Halts Flights to Sanaa as Fighting Rages

Deadly fighting raged between armed tribesmen and security forces on the streets of Sanaa Thursday, sending thousands of residents fleeing and closing the Yemeni capital's airport, witnesses said.

Medics said bodies were lying in the streets of al-Hasaba neighborhood, bastion of powerful tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, where the fighting erupted on Tuesday after a truce broke down.

Tribal leaders meanwhile said thousands of armed tribesmen were on their way to Sanaa to boost Ahmar's forces, but had been stopped at a military post 15 kilometers north of the capital, where clashes broke out.

According to one tribal leader, the armed tribesmen "want to enter Sanaa to back their leader" Ahmar, who heads the powerful Hashid tribal federation and who has thrown his weight behind protesters demanding the fall of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Witnesses said a warplane flew at low altitude breaking the sound barrier in Ahmar's birth town of Khamr, 80 kilometers north of Sanaa, in an attempt to intimidate the tribesmen.

Officials said Sanaa's airport, about 10 kilometers from al-Hasaba, had been closed on Thursday with all flights diverted to the southern city of Aden.

Heavy fighting raged in al-Hasaba through the night and into Thursday, in which at least 15 people were killed, according to medics and witnesses.

Among the victims was a seven-year-old girl, who died of her wounds after she was hit by a stray bullet, said a medical official at al-Jomhoreya hospital in Sanaa.

Saleh's "special forces", who have received special foreign training in the fight against terrorism, have also joined the fighting, said residents, who described the overnight clashes as the "most violent" of the past two days.

Running street battles on Wednesday killed 47 people, medics said on Thursday, updating a previous toll of 39.

"The bodies are still scattered in al-Hasaba and ambulances cannot reach it due to the dangerous situation there," said a medical official.

A 70-year-old resident, Mohsen Sinan, said he and 30 members of his household were trying to flee Sanaa along with most other residents. "Sanaa is deserted now and if these battles continue Yemen will be finished," he said.

Fighting in the capital broke out on Tuesday after a truce collapsed between security forces and tribesmen who have taken control of public buildings across the capital.

The truce was announced May 27, after a week of fierce clashes that erupted when Saleh warned of a civil war as he refused to sign a Gulf-brokered plan for him to give up office as demanded by pro-democracy protesters.

Ahmar had in March pledged his support for protesters who have been demonstrating since January for the departure of Saleh, who has been in power since 1978.

Many shops remained shut in the impoverished country's capital and there were long lines at petrol stations as residents who remained complained of water shortages and power cuts.