Yemeni Capital Airport Closed After Explosions
(RTTNews) - The international airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was closed on Sunday after a series of explosions that rocked an adjacent Air Force base, reports quoting officials said.
A number of blasts at the al-Daylami base forced the authorities to divert flights from the Sanaa International Airport to Aden in the south of the restive Arab country.
Sanaa has been witnessing fierce fighting between security forces and pro-democracy protesters backed by deserted Army units and tribal warlords for the past few weeks since the return of President Ali Abdullah Saleh from three months' treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for injuries sustained in a June attempt on his life. Anti-government protesters are demanding an end to his 33-year-old rule in the impoverished southern-most country on the Arabian peninsula.
Tens of thousands of people were staging protest rallies regularly for the ouster of Saleh who was yet to sign a power transfer deal brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) despite his earlier promise.
Media reports quoting residents and witnesses said at least one shell hit the air base triggering a series of explosions in which two fighter jets were burnt.
One report quoting tribal sources said an adult and three childrenn were killed overnight when the tribesmen's region north of the capital came under shell attack, while 13 wounded in an attack in the Arhab area, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Sanaa.
No casualties were reported from the attack on the air base so far nor any organization claimed responsibility for it.
The U.N. Security Council and several other ountries have urged Saleh to stop crackdown on anti-government proteters and step down immediately bringing an end to the unrest that began early this year.
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