Fighting ebbs in Yemen’s Sana’a after Saleh death

Witnesses say that fighting has subsided in the Yemeni capital Sana’a hours after the announcement of the death of Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Residents say they saw fighters hand themselves in and others withdraw from their positions. Al-Masirah TV network, run by the Shiite Houthis rebels, also showed footage of what appeared to be Saleh’s forces handing themselves in. The channel had earlier carried a broadcast in which the Houthi’s leader, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, said his forces had killed Saleh for “treason.”

In other areas like Fag Attan, Saleh’s forces are still surrounded by Houthis. It was not immediately clear if the fighting would resume again in the morning.

The Houthis have also seized the homes of Saleh and some of his family members in a southern district of Sanaa — the so-called Political District — which witnessed some of the heaviest clashes.

The Interior Ministry, affiliated with the Houthis, says that Houthi-allied security forces are carrying out raids and arrests at the homes of Saleh’s associates and supporters.

— AP