Earlier in the day, 12 tribesmen and a Republican Guards general were killed and an unknown number of other Guards killed and wounded in fighting sparked by tribesmen trying to reach Sana’a to aid Sheikh Ahmar, tribal and military sources said, according to Agence-France Presse.
“There is a truce between us and (President) Ali Abdullah Saleh” for mediation to take place, said Mr. Ahmar, head of the powerful Hashid federation, at a funeral for 30 of his fighters killed in clashes with President Saleh’s security forces in the capital, which began on Monday and lasted until Thursday.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for the funeral, an AFP correspondent said, while elsewhere in Sana’a, thousands of pro-Saleh demonstrators gathered briefly for a “Friday of Law and Order” demonstration.
Early on Friday, clashes broke out between fighters from the Nahm tribe and Republican Guards in the al-Fardha area, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of Sana’a, on the road to the city of Maarib.
“Early in the morning, we launched attacks against three Republican Guards checkpoints in al-Fardha area, and we were able to take control of one of the checkpoints,” a tribal source said.
Another tribal source said that 12 Nahm fighters were killed in the fighting, which he said began because Republican Guards set up checkpoints on the road to prevent them from travelling to Sana’a to reinforce Ahmar.
A third tribal source said that Yemeni aircraft had bombed the area of the fighting, while a fourth said that the tribal fighters later left the checkpoint and opened the road.
A military source said that General Ali Nasser Gatami, the commander of a nearby Republican Guards camp, was killed in the fighting, and an unknown number of Guards were killed and wounded.
Mr. Saleh, 65, who has been in power for 33 years, has since January faced protests calling for his departure.
Fighting erupted between Ahmar loyalists and security forces on Monday, a day after Mr. Saleh refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council-sponsored accord that would have seen him cede power within 30 days in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Instead, Mr. Saleh issued fresh demands, including that the opposition sign the deal in his presence, and warned of civil war in the poor country of 24 million people.
The Yemeni defense ministry’s 26sep.net news website said on Thursday that Mr. Saleh has ordered the arrest of Ahmar and others involved in the unrest.
Sheikh Ahmar has accused President Saleh of dragging the country into civil war.
Meanwhile, India’s foreign ministry on Friday advised its 14,000 nationals in Yemen to leave because of escalating violence in the impoverished Arabian peninsula country.
Friday prayers have been a rallying point for opponents and supporters of Mr. Saleh, whose country has become the poorest in the region and is located on a shipping lane through which 3 million barrels of oil pass daily to Western markets.
Sana’a residents have been streaming out of the capital by the thousands to escape the escalating violence. Others stocked up on essentials and waited in trepidation.
“There is absolute poverty because of this regime. We want change,” said Abdulrahman al-Fawli, 42, an engineer. “But I’m terrified of civil war. I dread this prospect. God willing, he will leave peacefully and abdicate power peacefully,” he said according to Reuters.
The Yemeni protest movement was born out of the “Arab Spring” that led to the overthrow of the longstanding autocratic leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, and has used social media sites including Facebook and Twitter to rally support.
“Saleh and his forces and al-Ahmar tribe cannot make the civilian state that the protesters want. They stole the limelight of the revolution and undermined it with their fighting," said Ali Mohammed Subaihy, a doctor.
Dozens of armed men believed to be from Al Qaeda stormed into the city of Zinjibar in the southern flashpoint province of Abyan, chasing out security forces and setting off blasts in several buildings, residents said, according to Reuters.
The army withdrew from Zinjibar after a battle with militants in March, but later regained control.
President Saleh has said his removal would be a boon to Al Qaeda but the opposition, which includes the Islamist party, accuses him of exploiting militancy to keep his foreign backing and argues that it would be better placed to fight Al Qaeda.
“Saleh has even turned terrorism into an investment strategy by amplifying the threat of Al Qaeda in Yemen to get more foreign aid," said Abdel Raqib abdel-Hadi at the protest camp.
The United States, which long treated Mr. Saleh as an ally against Al Qaeda, also said it now wants him to go.
Mr. Saleh said on Wednesday he would not bow to international “dictates” to step down and leave Yemen. His attempts to stop the protests by force have so far killed some 260 people.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission voiced fears Friday that Mr. Saleh’s government will plunge the country into civil war, saying dozens of people had been killed in recent days.
“The escalation of violence in the past few days is extremely alarming especially given that the government and the opposition were so close to an agreement,” spokesman Robert Colville told a press conference, according to AFP.
“We are deeply concerned that the government may be pushing the country close to the brink of civil war.”
Mr. Colville said Sana’a had authorized the commission to send a mission to Yemen in June, but added, “We are seeking access earlier than that and we are continuing discussions with the government on the terms of reference of that mission.”
(Abeer Tayel, an editor at Al Arabiya
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