Clashes between government forces and opposition protesters have led to at least 16 dead, according to a Yemeni medic at the scene of the latest arrest in Sanaa, the Yemen capital.
Medic Mohammed al-Qabatis says troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to storm the protesters' encampment in the early hours of Saturday. The camp on Change Square has been epicenter of Yemen's uprising and daily sit-ins to demand Saleh's resignation.
Al-Qabatis, who works at a field hospital set up in the camp, says the dead included 15 civilians and one soldier who had joined the opposition movement. He says 54 people were also wounded in the attack.
The latest bloodshed came a day after the embattled president's sudden return to Yemen after more than three months of being treated in Saudi Arabia, where he was recovering from an assassination attempt.
Republican Guard troops, commanded by Saleh's son Ahmed, have been locked in a week of deadly battles with dissident soldiers from the First Armoured Brigade headed by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who have, since March, protected anti-regime protesters camped out on Sanaa's Change Square.
Security forces have also been fighting supporters of dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar in Sanaa's northern Al-Hasaba district.
The fighting has caused 132 deaths since Sunday, based on a tally obtained from medics and tribal and opposition sources. State news agency Saba said 24 of Saleh's soldiers have also been killed.
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