SANA'A/JEDDAH: Bodies lay in the streets of a southern Yemeni town Wednesday as government forces battled militants, a local official said, underscoring the gravity of Yemen's multiple conflicts. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, 69, wounded Friday when rockets hit his palace, is having treatment in the Saudi capital Riyadh but there were conflicting reports about his condition. A truce between his forces and tribesmen who back pro-democracy protesters was holding in Sana'a. Saleh has left a country in crisis, with Yemeni civilians bearing the brunt of fighting. Medical staff are having trouble reaching the wounded, and electricity and water are scarce, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said. Some 20 bodies have been retrieved in and around Sana'a since Saturday by ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent teams, including seven Tuesday in Al-Hassaba, north of the capital, the ICRC said. “Because of the fighting, it has often been difficult for medical personnel to reach certain parts of Sana'a,” said Jean-Nicolas Marti, the head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen. Officials and residents described dire scenes in the southern Abyan province where the army and militants have fought for days, causing thousands of residents to flee. “There is a cat-and-mouse game going on in the streets now between the army and armed men. I can't tell who's who among them any more,” said resident Khaled Abboud by telephone. “There is a smell of gunfire and blood in the air. I only stayed to protect my home but now I want to get out of this hell.” The fighting has reduced Zinjibar, once home to more than 50,000 people, to a ghost town without power or running water. Health official Alhadar Alsaidi said disease was spreading from dead bodies on the streets and wild dogs were eating them. “I call on local and international health organzations to help us removing bodies from the streets and burying them,” he said. The Yemeni army said this week it had killed 30 militants in Zinjibar, where a local official said 15 soldiers had also died in battles for the town seized by gunmen nearly two weeks ago. Some of Saleh's opponents have accused the president of deliberately letting Al-Qaeda militants take over Zinjibar to demonstrate the security risks if he lost power. The United States and Britain have called for a peaceful, orderly transition in Yemen, based on a Gulf-brokered plan. There was no clear word on Saleh's health. “I visited him yesterday evening and he was good. He talked to us and asked about the Yemeni expatriates and he is better than the others who were injured. He is very good and talks. He was sitting on a chair,” said Taha Al-Hemyari, head of Yemeni Community Affairs at the Yemen Embassy in Riyadh. But Yemeni and US officials said Tuesday Saleh was in a more serious condition with burns over roughly 40 percent of his body and Al-Watan newspaper cited a Yemeni diplomat Wednesday as saying another operation on Saleh was possible. Saleh was initially said to have been hit by shrapnel. His deputy said Monday the president would return to Yemen within days, but there was no word on whether this would happen. Forty percent burns would mean Saleh's life could be in danger. The capital Sana'a was calm in Saleh's absence, with a ceasefire holding between government forces and tribesmen loyal to Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar, head of the powerful Hashed tribal confederation, who have turned against the president.
