40 Yemenis die

MORE than 40 Yemenis were killed in pitched street battles in the capital yesterday as fighting aimed at ending President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule threatened to ignite civil war.

Residents were hurriedly strapping furniture, stoves, baby cots and other possessions to the roofs of cars and trucks and streaming out of Sanaa by the thousands, hoping to escape the violence that has killed more than 80 people since Monday.

The fighting, pitting the security forces of Saleh against members of the country’s most powerful Hashed tribe led by Sadiq al-Ahmar, was the bloodiest Yemen has seen since protests began.