An attack targeting Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a mosque located in the presidential palace killed an imam and three presidential guards, Yemen's state news agency said today.
Mr Saleh, who is facing protests against his nearly 33 years in power that are threatening to descend into civil war, was unharmed in the attack, a western diplomat told Reuters earlier.
"The president is in good health and has postponed the press conference... due to scratches," Yemen's deputy information minister Abdu al-Janadi told journalists. "There is nothing that affects his health."
This evening Yemeni radio broadcast a recording of Mr Salah in which he said seven people were killed in the attack. In his speech, the president blamed the attack on an "outlaw gang". It is not known if any of the dead were senior members of the Yemeni administration.
A senior diplomat in Sanaa said earlier that the prime minister, his deputy, the parliament speaker and other aides were hurt and a source inside the president’s office confirmed that government officials had been wounded in the attack. He had no details.
The state news agency Saba said three presidential guards were killed at a mosque inside the palace compound.
The government blamed the shelling on Hashed tribesmen led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, whose family has backed protesters demanding president Saleh's overthrow. Mr al-Ahmar later denied responsibility and accused Mr Saleh himself of orchestrating the attack to justify a government escalation of street fighting in the capital.
Suspicion also has fallen on breakaway General Ali Mohsen, who defected to the opposition in April and sent his troops to the capital to protect anti-Saleh demonstrators.
Forces loyal to the government later shelled the homes of the leaders of the Hashed tribal federation, security sources said. The United States condemned the escalating violence and called for an orderly and peaceful transfer of power.
"Violence cannot resolve the issues that confront Yemen, and today's events cannot be a justification for a new round of fighting," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
Yemen has tipped swiftly toward civil war this week, with Hashed tribesmen battling Saleh forces in Sanaa.
More than 370 people have been killed, at least 155 of them in the last 10 days, since a popular uprising began in January against Saleh's nearly 33 years in power.
Before the attack on the palace, protesters paraded the coffins of 50 people it said were killed by Saleh's forces since a ceasefire fell apart this week.
Heavy fighting spread for the first time to southern Sanaa, held by Saleh loyalists battling disaffected military units and tribesmen in the north. Thousands of civilians have fled.
Explosions were also heard in the southern city of Taiz, where the United Nations has said it is investigating reports that 50 people have been killed since Sunday.
Yemen is engulfed in multiple conflicts, with street battles between tribal groups and Saleh's forces in Sanaa, popular unrest across the country and fighting against AQAP and other Islamist militants who seized the coastal city of Zinjibar.
Reuters