Shiite rebels seize Yemen's government headquarters
Prime minister resigns and violence continues despite power-sharing deal announced by UN
Shiite rebels seized the Yemeni government headquarters yesterday and the premier resigned as violence raged despite a UN announcement of a power-sharing deal to end days of fighting.
Prime Minister Mohamed Basindawa stepped aside, accusing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi of being "autocratic".
Mohammed Abdulsalam, spokesman for the Ansarullah rebels, also known as Huthis, confirmed that the seat of government had been taken.
Earlier, shelling and gunfire in the north of Sanaa was heard across the city, as Sunni militiamen and troops battled the rebels, prompting an exodus of terrified residents.
A week of fighting has left dozens of people dead and forced the suspension of all flights into and out of Sanaa airport, which is in the battle zone. There was no let-up in the fighting on Saturday night despite Hadi ordering an after-dark curfew.
The clashes centred on the campus of Al-Iman University, a bastion of Sunni Islamists that the Shiite rebels have been trying to capture, witnesses said.