West ups pressure on Saleh as Yemen death toll mounts

World anger over bloodshed in Yemen and pressure on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down mounted on Tuesday as at least 24 people were killed in as many hours.

Strong statements from the 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 sources 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.

In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was appalled by the bloodshed and condemned the "indiscriminate violence" of security forces.

"In early March, President Saleh promised to maintain maximum restraint in the use of the Yemeni security forces in controlling peaceful demonstrations. We strongly urge him to keep that promise," he said.

Acceptance of GCC invitation

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Monday invited government and opposition representatives to talks in Saudi Arabia, at a date yet to be set, with the United States pressing the veteran political survivor to negotiate with his opponents.

Saleh, who ignored a transition-of-power plan offered by the opposition on Saturday, accepted the Arab Gulf states' invitation on Tuesday and urged the opposition to follow suit.

"I promise that we will make every effort to return things to normal through talks with rational people from the Joint Meetings Party," he said, referring to the opposition coalition.

Opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan said "we have welcomed (a Gulf Cooperation Council invitation) and said we will attend, but to discuss a transfer of power only."

But other figures in the opposition remained cautious.

"We welcome any effort that would lead to (Saleh's) immediate departure, but we haven't received anything to discuss yet," said Mohammed al-Sabri, another top opposition official.

The European Union urged Saleh to begin a political transition "without delay," a day after Washington pressed him to negotiate a peaceful handover, warning that al-Qaeda stood ready to benefit from a power vacuum.

According to medics and witnesses, about 125 people have now been killed in Yemen's crackdown on protesters, who launched nationwide demonstrations in late January to unseat Saleh, in power since 1978.

US pressure to negotiate transition

Washington, which has considered Saleh a key ally in its "war on terror" but expressed fears of al-Qaeda taking advantage of a prolonged crisis, is now pressing him to negotiate a transition of power.

"We are obviously concerned that in this period of political unrest that al-Qaeda and other groups will attempt to take advantage of that power vacuum," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.

But the Pentagon said there were no plans to suspend U.S. military aid to Yemen.

"As far as I know, it has not been," press secretary Geoff Morrell said when asked at a news conference if the US administration was considering withholding military aid due to the unrest and violence.

"Obviously, we are monitoring the situation closely. It's fluid," Morrell said.

Morrell said that Saleh retained control over the military and stressed that Yemeni leadership remained committed to battling al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, has called AQAP the top threat to the United States.

The group has claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day attack in 2009 aboard a U.S. airliner and a more recent attempt last year to blow up two U.S.-bound cargo planes with toner cartridges packed with explosives.