SANA, Yemen — Islamist militants who overran a southern town killed five soldiers in an ambush Tuesday while fresh clashes erupted between government forces and fighters loyal to the country’s top tribal leader.
The violence pushed Yemen closer to the edge of a civil war.
Nearly four months of mass protests calling for democratic reforms and the ouster of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh have rocked the stability of this impoverished corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Saleh has confronted the mass protests calling for his ouster by promising reform and sending security forces — his largest remaining bastion of support — to crack down on protesters.
Four protesters were killed in the southern city of Taiz on Tuesday, bringing the city’s two-day death toll to at least 25.
Stiff criticism of the government’s crackdown in Taiz came Tuesday from U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner. “We condemn those indiscriminate attacks by Yemeni security forces,” he said, urging Saleh to sign a pact to leave office “and to move Yemen forward.”
The soldiers were ambushed outside the southern town of Zinjibar. Hundreds of armed Islamists stormed the town of more than 20,000 people last week, seizing banks and government offices before setting up barricades to solidify their control. Army units have shelled the town for days, failing to dislodge the militants and sending hundreds of residents fleeing.
