By: WTB Blogger
Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh has been assassinated by the Houthi rebels near the capital, Sanaa, a development expected to have major implications for the war in the Arab world’s poorest country.
The death was first announced on Monday by the Sanaa-based interior ministry, controlled by Saleh’s former allies now enemies, the Houthi rebel movement.
Footage all over social media appeared to display a body resembling Saleh, with one video showing how armed militiamen used a blanket to move the corpse into the back of a pickup truck.
There were earlier reports that the Houthis blew up one of Saleh’s houses. Houthi sources said Saleh was killed by the rebels in a rocket-propelled grenade and shooting attack on his car.
In a statement read out on Houthi TV, the interior ministry announced the “killing” of “Saleh and his supporters”.
“This is after he and his men blockaded the roads and killed civilians in a clear collaboration with the enemy countries of the coalition,” it added.
The ministry also said its forces had “taken over all the positions and strongholds of the treacherous militia in the capital, Sanna, and the surrounding areas, as well as other provinces in order to impose security”.
The man in charge of the former president’s security detail, Hussein al-Hamidi, was also murdered.
