More than 300 members of Yemen’s security forces have defected, opposition sources said on Wednesday, which could bolster opponents demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh end his 33 years in power.
The defections come amid intensified military attacks by the Yemeni air force and ground troops on what the government says are Islamist militants affiliated with al Qaeda in south Yemen.
The poorest Arab state and a neighbour of the world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has been shaken by months of protests against Saleh’s three-decade rule, a resurgent al Qaeda and a separatist rebellion in the south. “From the podium of the Square of Change in Sanaa, an announcement has been issued that 150 soldiers from the Republican Guards, 130 Central Security soldiers and 60 policemen have joined the rebellion,” an opposition message said.
No government officials were immediately available to comment on the report that the defections also included 150 members of the Republican Guards led by Saleh’s son, Brigadier General Ahmed. If confirmed, the mutinies would represent a major blow to Saleh, who has spent the past three weeks receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after he was injured in an attack on his palace on June 3. The defections are the latest in a series by security forces since an uprising against Saleh’s rule began in February. Most prominent was the defection in March of Brigadier General Ali Mohsen, who has since sent in his troops to guard protesters in Sanaa. The protests have culminated in gun battles between Saleh loyalists and gunmen from the powerful Hashed tribal federation in Sanaa that brought the country to the verge of civil war.
Yemen has been largely quiet with a ceasefire in place since Saleh was injured in the attack, which investigators say was caused by explosives planted in the palace mosque where he and several senior government officials were praying
UNREST IN THE SOUTH: In southern Yemen, a local official said Yemeni warplanes killed about 10 Islamist militants associated with al Qaeda in repeated strikes on Zinjibar, capital of the volatile Abyan province. The official said warplanes also mistakenly hit a bus travelling from Zinjibar to Aden, killing five passengers and wounding 12 other people.
The official said that eight Yemeni soldiers and six militants were killed in heavy fighting outside of Zinjibar. Separately, a bomb killed a colonel when it exploded in his car on Tuesday night in the port city of Aden, a security source said on Wednesday.
