Violence, jubilation in Yemen after Saleh’s departure

By Ernesto Londono,
WashPost
Sunday, June 5, 9:00 AM

CAIRO — Yemeni security forces used tanks and live ammunition against gunmen who stormed the presidential palace in the southern city of Taiz on Sunday, witnesses said, a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh left the country for Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, residents in the capital said government forces continued to shell the homes of opposition tribal leaders in an upscale district.

The bloodshed suggested that the power struggle in Yemen could continue to play out violently as tribesmen opposed to the government, the armed forces and government loyalists chart out their next moves in the wake of Saleh’s sudden decision to leave Yemen late Saturday and transfer authority to his deputy.

The clashes in Taiz, one of the epicenters of the revolt against Saleh, left at least two anti-government gunmen dead and four soldiers wounded, witnesses said.

Saleh, 65, flew to the neighboring kingdom for treatment of head wounds sustained a day earlier in a rocket attack on his palace in the capital.

(Original here.)