Saleh is to leave Yemen for treatment

Saudi king extends offer of medical treatment to Yemeni president, as his country's capital is paralysed, its hospitals are flooded with injured and its residents flee in fear.

SANA'A // Officials close to Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh said last night he has accepted an offer from the Saudi king to travel there for medical treatment.

The officials said Mr Saleh spoke to King Abdullah shortly after the rocket attack on Friday night that wounded him and five top government officials. Eleven security men were killed.

Analysts believe leaving Yemen at a time of such instability, even for medical care, could make it hard for Mr Saleh to retain power and might be seen as the first step in a transfer of leadership.

Sheikh Mohammed Nagi al Shayef, a leader of the Bakeel tribe, which is allied with Mr Saleh, said he met the president yesterday evening in the capital.

"He suffered burns but they were not serious. He was burnt on both hands, his face and head," Sheikh al Shayef said. He said Mr Saleh also was hit by jagged pieces of wood that splintered from the mosque's minbar. There were about 200 people inside the mosque when the rocket landed.

Months of peaceful demonstrations to oust the regime have become a raging military conflict in the capital and elsewhere. The increasing violence in Sana'a has left hospitals flooded with the dead and injured and sent thousands fleeing the city in fear.

Since violence erupted in the city on May 23, residents have been hiding in basements as partisans fight for control of ministries and hammer one another in artillery duels and gun battles, rattling neighbourhoods and sending palls of smoke over the city.

A medic in a Sana'a hospital said staff were unable to cope with the increasing number of casualties.

"Life is completely paralysed and most of the shops are closed down," said Ahmed Kanaf, a resident of Habra district in the city's north-east. "Some take their guns and stand guard to protect their zone and houses."

Mr Kanaf said owners of more than half of the homes in his neighbourhood had fled. Some of the homes have been looted.

"The clashes do not stop and the robbery and looting intensifies when the gunfire intensifies," Mr Kanaf said.

* With agencies