Blast at Yemen base, nearby airport shut

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Blast at Yemen base, nearby airport shut

By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa and Mohammed Mukhashaf

in Aden | Reuters – 3 hours ago

SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - A large explosions shook an air base outside the Yemeni

capital Sanaa Sunday, prompting authorities to shut the city's nearby airport,

residents and officials said.

Residents said they believed at least one shell had hit the al-Daylami base

which is adjacent to Sanaa International Airport.

" The airport was closed as a precautionary measure, " one government official

told Reuters. Flights were diverted to Aden airport in the south of the Arabian

Peninsula country.

Yemen's capital has seen weeks of fighting between troops loyal to President

Abdullah Saleh and tribesmen who back protesters demanding an end to of his

33-year rule. Tribesmen in areas outside the capital have complained of months

of attacks by the air force against their towns.

Tribal sources said earlier Sunday that four people, including three children,

were killed overnight when troops shelled the tribesmen's region north of the

capital, hitting a petrol station.

Thirteen others were wounded in the attack in the Arhab area, some 40 km (25

miles) from Sanaa.

In the city of Taiz, south of Sanaa, a doctor said one civilian was shot dead

and two were wounded by government forces who fired at a car. The incident

occurred in a district where there have been clashes between government forces

and pro-opposition tribesmen.

Months of anti-government protests have divided impoverished Yemen, pushing the

Arabian Peninsula country to the verge of civil war and a humanitarian crisis.

Neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia and the international community fear growing

lawlessness in Yemen is giving al Qaeda's regional wing scope to plan and

potentially launch attacks in the region and beyond.

The ruling party is likely to name Saleh's deputy as its presidential candidate

if a transfer of power is carried out under a Gulf-brokered power transition

plan, Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi said Sunday.

" The General People's Congress intends to announce Vice President Abd-Rabbu

Mansour Hadi as its candidate in the presidential election in the coming

period, " Janadi told reporters.

The U.N. Security Council issued a resolution on October 21 deploring the

fighting and calling on Saleh to leave office in line with the transition plan.

Saleh has dug his heels in, surviving an assassination attempt and three times

agreeing to sign the Gulf plan only to back out at the last minute.

Violence has showed no sign of easing.

In the southern port city of Aden, one soldier was killed and two wounded by a

roadside bomb targeting their patrol on Sunday, a security official said.

Islamist militants had probably planted it, the official said.

Soldiers, security officials and tribesmen fighting militants are frequently

attacked in the country's south, where government control has been weakened by

political upheaval.

(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa and Mohammed Mukhashaf

in Aden; Writing by Isabel Coles and Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Jon Hemming)