SANAA (Reuters) – A breakaway military group called on Sunday for other army units to join them in the fight to bring down Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, piling pressure on him to end his three-decade rule over the destitute country.

Opposition leaders separately accused Saleh of allowing the city of Zinjibar, on the Gulf of Aden, to fall to al Qaeda and Islamists militants in order to raise alarm in the region that would in turn translate to support for the president.

SANAA (Reuters) – An al Qaeda group tightened its grip on a Yemeni coastal town while in the capital Sanaa a truce was holding on Sunday between President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces and armed rebels, hours after it was agreed.

Armed men believed to be from al Qaeda appeared to have full control of the coastal city of Zinjibar in the flashpoint province of Abyan.

SANAA (Reuters) – A sense of calm returned to Yemen’s embattled capital on Sunday hours after armed tribesman and President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces reached a truce to halt clashes threatening to plunge the state into civil war.

Pedestrians and cars returned to Sanaa streets where pitched battles in nearly a week of fighting killed at least 115 and raised global worries over the impoverished country perched next to a crucial shipping lane through which about 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s government and armed tribesmen demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh leave power agreed on Saturday to end their confrontation which had brought the poor Arabian Peninsula country to the brink of civil war.

The deal included a withdrawal of armed tribesmen from government buildings and moves to normalise life in the Hasaba district of the capital Sanaa, scene of a week-long clashes that killed 115 people, a source close to mediators told Reuters.

SANAA (Reuters) – The political crisis that has pushed Yemen to the brink of civil war has cost the economy as much as $5 billion, and immediate aid is needed to prevent a meltdown, the country’s trade minister said on Saturday.

Three months of street fighting and political protests have left nearly 300 dead, scared away investors, driven off urgently needed foreign aid and swollen budget deficits.

SANAA (Reuters) – An informal ceasefire between President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s security forces and a tribal group brought a pause in fighting on Saturday after nearly a week of deadly clashes left Yemen near civil war.

Fighting this week has killed some 115 people, prompted thousands of residents to flee Sanaa and raised the spectre of chaos that could benefit the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda and threaten adjacent Saudi Arabia, the world’s No. 1 oil exporter.

SANAA (Reuters) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh and tribal leaders must agree a broad ceasefire immediately to prevent wider conflict that would plunge Yemen into civil war, an influential think-tank said in a conflict risk alert.

Fighting this week has killed some 115 people, prompted thousands of residents to flee Sanaa and raised the specter of chaos that could benefit the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda and threaten adjacent Saudi Arabia, the world’s No. 1 oil exporter.

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni tribesmen said they wrested a military compound from elite troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh outside the capital Sanaa on Friday as fighting spread, threatening to tip the country into civil war.

Yemeni fighter jets broke the sound barrier as they swooped over Sanaa, where battles between Saleh loyalists and the Hashed tribal alliance led by Sadeq al-Ahmar erupted this week after failure of a deal to ease the president out.

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni tribesmen said they wrested a military compound from elite troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh outside the capital Sanaa on Friday as increased fighting threatened to tip the country into civil war.

Tribal leader Sheikh Hamid Asim told Reuters his fighters killed the base’s military commander and a separate tribal source said the Yemeni air force dropped bombs to prevent the tribesmen from seizing an arms cache at the site.

SANAA (Reuters) – Supporters and opponents of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh were expected to hold large rival demonstrations on Friday after a week of clashes in the capital threatened to tip the country into civil war.

More than 40 Yemenis were killed in Sanaa on Thursday in the fourth day of fighting since the collapse of a Gulf-brokered agreement for Saleh to bow to widespread demands to step down and bring an end to four months of unrest.