Source says Yemeni president has no intention of leaving the country SANA'A: Yemen's Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), the country's largest opposition coalition, has blamed the ruling power for Friday's shelling of a mosque at the presidential palace that killed several people and left President Ali Abdullah Saleh slightly wounded. Five senior officials injured in the attack were brought to Saudi Arabia for treatment following the attack, while sources in Saudi Arabia and Sana'a deny that President Saleh has left Yemen. In a statement released Saturday the JMP accused the ruling authority of starting the escalation in violence and “dragging Yemen into war”, but Tariq Al-Shami, spokesman for the ruling General People's Congress party, told Saudi Gazette/Okaz that the opposition was behind the attack. “Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar and his brothers will be pursued and brought to justice,” Al-Shami said of the head of the Hashid tribe. A spokesman for the sheikh denied the Hashid tribe had “any connection to the shelling of the presidential palace whatsoever”. “What happened was a settling of scores between officials at the presidency,” he said. The official Yemeni news agency SABA, meanwhile, reported Saturday that five senior officials had been taken to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment following the palace attack. SABA named the five as Prime Minister Ali Mujawar; deputy prime ministers Rashad Al-Alimi and Sadeq Amin Abu Ras; Shoura Council Chairman Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani; and Parliament Speaker Yahya Al-Raee. A source in Saudi Arabia denied reports that President Saleh had also left for the Kingdom. “Saleh is still in Yemen and has no intention of leaving,” said the source, who did not wish his name to be disclosed. Officials from the ruling party in Yemen also said the president was in Sana'a and in “good health”. Yemeni sources told Saudi Gazette/Okaz, meanwhile, that the commander of the Khalid Bin Al-Waleed military base in Taiz and his troops had defected to the “popular peaceful revolution”.
