Yemen's Huthi rebels claim ex-president Saleh killed

Yemen`s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh addressing a ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the British forces withdrawal from Aden. AFP file photo taken on 29 November 2007.
Yemen`s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh addressing a ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the British forces withdrawal from Aden. AFP file photo taken on 29 November 2007.

Yemen's rebel-controlled interior ministry on Monday announced the "killing" of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, as a video emerged showing what appeared to be Saleh's corpse.

"The interior ministry announces the end of the crisis of militias and the killing of their leader and a number of his criminal supporters," an anchor said on the rebels' official Al-Masirah television, referring to armed supporters of Saleh.

Saleh on Saturday announced the end of his alliance with the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, with whom he has jointly ruled the capital for three years.

The statement came shortly after a video began to circulate on social media showing what appeared to be a dead Saleh, wrapped in a floral-print blanket with a severe head injury.

The 75-year-old strongman ruled Yemen for more than three decades, until his ouster under popular and political pressure in 2012.