Yemens main airport reopens day after attack
SANAA, Yemen - Yemens main airport reopened on Sunday, a day after gunmen loyal to the nations ousted president seized the facility in the capital Sanaa in a brazen challenge to the new governments authority, officials said.
Supporters of former Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh attacked the airport on Saturday, shooting up a surveillance tower and sending tanks and armored vehicles to occupy the tarmac. Their action followed a military shake-up in which key commanders loyal to Saleh were fired.
The security officials said the attackers pulled out from the airport on Sunday but that ex-president Salehs half brother, air force commander Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, was determined not to leave his office at the military wing of the airport despite being fired in Hadis purge. Aides have said he would not give up his post until Hadi also fired some of the ex-presidents opponents.
Posted by: Steve White 2012-04-09 |