Armed Protesters Clash with Yemen Forces in Taez, 15 Killed in Sanaa

Protesters, armed for the first time since demonstrations began in January, clashed Thursday with security forces in the flashpoint city of Taez, witnesses told Agence France Presse.

Witnesses said the clashes took place near the presidential palace and near a post held by the Republican Guard, an elite army unit loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and led by his son Ahmed.

No casualties were reported.

Security forces also fired warning shots to disperse dozens who have gathered in the city, south of Sanaa, calling for Saleh's ouster, according to an AFP photographer there.

A crackdown on protesters in Taez since Sunday has left more than 50 people killed, according to the U.N. human rights office.

Meanwhile, sixteen people, most of them combatants, were killed in fierce overnight battles between opposition tribesmen and security forces in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, medics said on Thursday.

The victims included a seven-year-old girl, who died of her wounds after she was hit by a stray bullet, said a medical official at al-Jomhoreya hospital in Sanaa.