West ups pressure for Yemen leader to resign

Strong statements from the United States, United Nations, European Union, Britain and Italy came as Saleh's foes cautiously welcomed a proposal by Gulf states to mediate in their demands for the veteran president to step down.

Five people were killed on Tuesday in a firefight in Sanaa between troops of an army division that has sided with anti-regime protesters and tribesmen close to Saleh, security officials said.

The deaths came as dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar accused forces loyal to Saleh of trying to kill him in an ambush in which an unspecified number of other people lost their lives.

Members of the presidential guard, who had masqueraded as part of a delegation of tribal envoys visiting the headquarters of Ahmar's rebel division, pulled out weapons and opened fire on the general, his office said.

Tuesday's clashes near the Sanaa University base of youth protesters came a day after 19 demonstrators were gunned down in clashes with security forces in the southern city of Taez and in Hudaydah on the Red Sea.

Security forces in Taez, among them rooftop snipers, shot dead 17 people after protesters demanding Saleh's ouster marched on the provincial headquarters in the city.

That prompted the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn the “disproportionate and excessive” use of force in Taez.

“We are very alarmed by reports of disproportionate and excessive use of force, including machine guns, against peaceful protesters by government security forces,” said Navi Pillay's spokesman.

In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement: “The Yemeni people have a right to demonstrate peacefully, and we remind President Ali Abdullah Saleh of his responsibility to ensure the safety and security of Yemenis who are exercising their universal right to engage in political expression,” Carney said.

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