Dozens wounded by celebratory Yemen gunfire

YEMEN President Ali Abdullah Saleh is out of intensive care in Saudi Arabia where he is being treated for bomb blast wounds, prompting celebratory gunfire that hurt dozens of people.

Saleh’s troops killed two pro-protester gunmen in the southern protest hub of Taez while fighting intensified in the southern town of Zinjibar, held by suspected al-Qaida members since last month.

Fireworks crackled over Sanaa on Wednesday night as Saleh loyalists took to the streets “feting the success of the surgery... and his transfer from intensive care to a royal suite” in a Riyadh hospital, Saba state news agency said.

The celebratory gunfire wounded about 80 people in the capital alone. Witnesses said there were also casualties in provincial towns.

There have been conflicting reports about Saleh’s health since he was flown to Riyadh on Saturday for treatment for wounds sustained in a bomb attack on his presidential compound the previous day. He has not been seen in public since.

A Saudi official said the embattled Yemeni president’s health was “stable“, adding he was waiting for doctors to “appoint a date for cosmetic surgery”.

Saleh, 69, would undergo an operation to treat “light burns on the scalp,” the official said, adding that “reports on the deterioration of his health condition are baseless”.

Vice president Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has insisted Saleh is in good condition and that he will return to Yemen within days.

But as Saleh recovers, opponents who have been protesting for his departure since late January are pushing his deputy to establish an interim ruling council to prevent him from returning to power.

“We will continue to press for the formation of an interim presidential council,” Wassim al-Qurshi, a leading protest activist said.