Saleh Supporters and Foes Clash in Yemeni Capital

Yemeni tribes backing a nine-month protest movement against President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed with his loyalists on Monday in Sanaa, witnesses said, after weekend gun fights left more than 20 dead.

The firefight in north Sanaa began after midnight and continued into the morning in al-Hassaba neighborhood, the base of tribesmen led by Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, a fierce foe of Saleh, residents said.

A source close to Ahmar told Agence France Presse that two of his tribesmen were killed overnight in a bombing carried out by the president's forces, while 13 others were wounded.

Twenty people were killed on Saturday in clashes between Saleh's loyalists and dissident troops led by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and tribesmen led by Sheikh Sadeq in northern Sanaa.

The clashes erupted in the wake of a non-binding U.N. Security Council resolution urging Saleh to immediately sign a Gulf-brokered deal to step down.

Meanwhile, a seven-years-old girl was killed and her mother was wounded when a rocket hit their house in the Saawan neighborhood in northeast Sanaa, which is relatively calm, witnesses said.

Women protesters planned to march in the afternoon from Sanaa's Change Square, the epicenter of anti-Saleh protests, organizers said.

The demonstration would go to Sitin Street but would remain within the area controlled by the dissident First Armored Brigade, led by general Ahmar, in an apparent bid to avoid provoking Saleh loyalists.

In other unrest, an armed man from tribes backing the protest in the flashpoint city of Taez was killed in dawn clashes with forces loyal to Saleh, a tribal source said.

Armed confrontations between rival forces and militias have escalated in past weeks, raising fears that Saleh's continued refusal to resign will push impoverished Yemen to all-out civil war.