Six Yemenis were killed on Saturday in shelling by government forces of the country's second city of Taez and in shootings, as sustained violence threatened to derail a fragile power-transfer deal. State media said a cease-fire was reached in the afternoon after a call by Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi for an end to the fighting and a pullout of troops and militiamen.
And the opposition warned it will not go ahead with forming a national unity government until a military commission is formed in line with a Gulf-brokered accord and the offensive on Taez halted. Three members of a Taez family were killed in shelling blamed on government forces, while two anti-regime gunmen were shot dead during clashes with troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, witnesses said.
The five bodies were taken to a field hospital in the Al-Rawda neighbourhood of central Taez, which is under the control of anti-Saleh protesters. A third gunman was later killed by sniper fire in Wadi al-Qadi, while four civilians, including a woman, were wounded, witnesses said.
Saturday's casualties took the death toll from clashes and bombardments by government forces since Thursday to 31, after nine people, including a young girl, two soldiers and a colonel, were killed on Friday. On Thursday, 16 others died, among them five soldiers and three gunmen.
The escalation of violence came hot on the heels of an order by Hadi late on Friday to cease fire and negotiate a pullout of troops and militiamen from Taez. Gunmen backing anti-Saleh protesters control the centre of Taez and most of its streets, while government forces have taken up position on hills within the city and on its outskirts.
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