Over 200 people killed in Yemen fighting, air raids in past week

More than 200 people have been killed in southern Yemen by US assassination drone raids, Yemeni air strikes and army troops over the past seven days. Yemeni officials said that over 180 militants were among those killed. On Monday, local officials said at least six militants were killed in a Yemeni airstrike in the southern Shabwa province. However, the militants say only three of their members were killed in the attack, which, they say, was carried out by a US assassination drone. On Sunday, at least three children were killed on their way to school when a roadside bomb targeted a Yemeni security patrol. After months of anti-regime protests and under growing international pressure, Yemen’s former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh formally stepped down in February, under a deal proposed by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council. The Arab-brokered deal gave immunity to Saleh and his affiliates in return for the dictator’s transfer of power to his own deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. It also kept the powerful military under the control of the outgoing ruler’s relatives and granted half of the cabinet posts to his aides. Hadi, a UK-trained field marshal, was later appointed to the post of the president in a single-candidate presidential election backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Yemenis have been holding regular demonstrations across the country, urging the new government to bring Saleh and his men to justice.