Yemen rebels attack president’s home

President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was reported to be inside the house but an official insisted that he was safe.The attack on Mr Hadi’s home came after the rebels entered the presidential palace in another part of the city following a brief clash with guards.Yemen, a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda in the […]

President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was reported to be inside the house but an official insisted that he was safe.
The attack on Mr Hadi’s home came after the rebels entered the presidential palace in another part of the city following a brief clash with guards.
Yemen, a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda in the region, has been beset by unrest for months.
Houthi militias, who are seeking greater autonomy for their home province, overran Sanaa in September after moving out of their northern stronghold.
However, the capital’s presidential buildings have so far remained outside their control. Information Minister Nadia al-Sakkaf said on Twitter that the president’s home had come under heavy shelling from armed forces positioned on rooftops nearby.
But an unnamed Yemeni government official told Reuters news agency: “The president is inside and he is fine.”
Another official said two people had been killed in the fighting.
Col Saleh al-Jamalani, commander of the Presidential Guard, described the latest events as a “coup”.
He told the Associated Press news agency that the rebels who swept into the presidential palace complex had been helped by insiders and were looting arms depots in the palace grounds.
The ceasefire that broke down on Tuesday was agreed just one day earlier after hours of fierce clashes in the city between the Presidential Guard and Houthis.
Under an agreement with President Hadi, the Houthis – who abducted the president’s chief of staff, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, on Saturday – pledged to withdraw from the capital once a new unity government was formed.