Yemen, Political Unrest | featured news

Nearly 100,000 Yemenis protested Friday in a main square of the capital demanding that the wounded president, currently outside the country, be removed from power.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh left Yemen and flew into Saudi Arabia on Sunday for medical treatment, pitching Yemen deeper into turmoil after months of protests against his three-decade rule.

Gunmen surrounding an embassy are angry about efforts by Arab mediators to ease Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power.

Security forces and plainclothes gunmen opened fire on crowds of Yemenis marching through a southern city Monday in an intensifying crackdown against the uprising.

The withdrawal of security forces from some provinces has left a power vacuum that al-Qaeda is trying to fill.

Islamic militants seized control of a weapons factory and a nearby town in Yemen's south Sunday, said a witness and security officials, as political turmoil around the country causes security to unravel.

A top general in Yemen joined the anti-government protest movement and will order his troops to protect protesters demonstrating against the country's long-time president, the general told reporters in Yemen.

Yemeni security forces and unidentified snipers opened fire at a protest in Sanaa after Muslim prayers Friday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 200 others, medical sources and witnesses told Reuters.