Battles between heavily armed loyalists and foes of Yemen's president killed six people in the capital today as a crisis over his crackdown on popular unrest drifted towards civil war.
At least 62 people have been killed since Sunday when frustration boiled over at President Ali Abdullah Saleh's refusal to accept a mediated power transfer plan after suffering serious wounds in a June assassination attempt.
That has turned the violence prevalent in a eight-month-old street revolt against Mr Saleh from shooting at protest crowds increasingly into a military showdown between forces loyal to him and troops and tribes who have defected to the opposition.
World powers fear that spreading chaos in Yemen, home to al-Qaeda's most powerful regional branch and flanking top-ranked oil exporter Saudi Arabia, could imperil international oil shipping and raise the risk of militant strikes on Western targets.
Heavy shelling and machine-gun fire buffeted Sanaa before dawn today, and unidentified snipers lurked in the upper stories of buildings in the capital Sanaa.
Four defector soldiers were killed in street fighting with pro-Saleh forces and two civilians died when three rockets crashed into a protest camp just after morning prayers at around 5am, witnesses said.
"The rockets hit some men walking outside past a market. I have two dead," said Dr. Mohammed al-Qubati, director of a field hospital at the camp on a site which protesters have dubbed Change Square. He said 10 people had been wounded.
"We were walking back from prayers. All of a sudden a rocket hit close by from out of nowhere, and some people fell down. And then a second one came and that's when we saw the two martyred," Manea al-Matari, a protest organiser, told Reuters by telephone.
More than 400 people have been killed since anti-Saleh protests began in January, one of a string of pro-democracy revolts in the Arab world that have toppled autocratic leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and challenged Syria's power elite.
Mr Saleh and his extended family have ruled impoverished Yemen on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula for 33 years.
Today's shelling was centred on the base of defected Gen Ali Mohsen and street fighting later spread for the first time to a wealthier neighbourhood, Hadda, that is home to both senior government officials and leading members of the powerful al-Ahmar tribe that is aligned with the protesters.
It was unclear who started the fighting in Hadda.
A source in Yemen's political opposition said members were meeting government officials and diplomats to try to push through a deal. UN mediator Jamal bin Omar and Gulf Cooperation Council secretary general Abdbullatif al-Zayani arrived in Sanaa yesterday and were expected to join the talks.
Mr Zayani was expected to press for the signing of a Gulf-brokered transition plan which Saleh backed out of three times before. "There's a possibility of trying to push through the Gulf plan for signing this week," an opposition source said.
Several countries including the United States condemned the violence but have given little indication of how they planned to put pressure on Mr Saleh to relinquish power.
"The United States regrets the deaths and injuries of many people during protest marches in Sanaa yesterday. In this tense situation, we call upon all parties to exercise restraint," the US embassy in Sanaa said yesterday.
Reuters
