Old regime loyalists attack Yemen defense ministry

SANAA—Troops of Yemen’s elite Republican Guard, led by the son of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, attacked the defense ministry on Tuesday, leaving five people dead and sparking US expressions of concern.

Two civilians were among the dead. Two civilians were also among the 17 wounded, a military source said.

The assault with heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades came a week after President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi ordered a restructuring of the armed forces as part of a UN-backed plan to ease power away from veteran strongman Saleh who had ruled in Sanaa since 1978.

Washington called for “restraint” by all sides in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation which it sees as a key partner in its “war on terror.”

Forces under the command of the ousted president’s son Ahmed, who remains a power- ful figure in the restive nation, laid siege to the defense ministry headquarters in Sanaa before attacking it with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades, witnesses told AFP.

Hundreds of Republican Guardsmen blocked the roads leading to the ministry in central Sanaa, the witnesses said.

They said the forces, who had come from the main base of the Republican Guard in Sawad, south of the capital, exchanged fire with police on their way to the ministry.

The United States urged all sides to show restraint and respect reforms by the new president.

“We have been urging restraint on all sides, an immediate end to the violence and respect for President Hadi and the reforms that he is putting in place and the democratic transition,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.