Saleh health 'bad' a week after attack

Mr. Saleh is recovering in Saudi Arabia from an attack on his compound Sanaa - AFP Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh is in poor condition suffering breathing problems in a Saudi hospital, an informed source said on Saturday, a week after a bomb blast wounded the embattled president. Uncertainty over the veteran  leader's health came amid fierce fighting between Yemeni troops and suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen in south Yemen where 10 soldiers and 21 militants were killed.
"The information we have says that President Saleh is still in bad condition, mainly as he suffers problems in the lungs and respiration," the source, a Yemeni in Riyadh, told AFP requesting anonymity.
Saleh was flown to Riyadh on June 4 in a Saudi medical aircraft for treatment a day after an explosion ripped through a mosque where he was praying inside his Sanaa presidential compound.
"What confirms this (Saleh's bad state of health) is that many Yemeni ministers tried to visit him and their requests were turned down," said the Yemeni source.
Yemeni officials have insisted Saleh is speedily recovering.
A Saudi official told AFP on Wednesday that Saleh's health was "stable" and dismissed reports of a deterioration in his health as "baseless." Saleh has not been seen in public since the attack.
Several officials, including caretaker Prime Minister Ali Mohammad Mujawar and head of parliament Abdulaziz Abdulghani, were wounded in the attack and are also being treated in Saudi Arabia.
"They were seen in hospital with their bodies entirely covered in wound dressings," the source said of the two, adding that their eyesight was believed to have been damaged.
Large numbers of Saleh loyalists gathered on Friday at Sanaa's Sabbeen Square to celebrate after state media said he was making a quick recovery and was now out of intensive care.
State media said "millions" of people demonstrated, a figure impossible to verify.
They gathered a few kilometres (miles) from large crowds of anti-Saleh protesters who have been pushing for the establishment of an interim ruling council since Saleh left the country.
Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has so far not responded to mounting pressure to set up the proposed council, as ruling party officials insist that Saleh is still president.
At least 200 protesters have been killed in Yemen in more than four months of protests demanding the ouster of Saleh, who has been in office since 1978.
Saleh has steadfastly refused to sign a Gulf-brokered deal that would see him quit in return for immunity against prosecution.
Dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar said in an interview published on Saturday that Yemen will be a safer country without Saleh, accusing him of nourishing Al-Qaeda in a ploy to "blackmail" foreign countries.
"I would like to stress that Yemen will be more secure and stable after the departure of Saleh, and will contribute to the security and stability of the whole region," Ahmar told Al-Hayat newspaper.
"Everyone knows that some of these terrorist groups are present among his private guards," he said.
"Also, these terrorist groups that he keeps warning of, at home and abroad, are supervised by two of his nephews: the head of his private guard, Tariq Mohammed Saleh, and the head of state security, Ammar Mohammed Saleh."
Ahmar also accused Saleh of deliberately handing control of southern areas of Yemen to Al-Qaeda.
"Just after Saleh spoke of Al-Qaeda seizing control of provinces, the regime handed over Abyan to terrorist gunmen," he said.
"I fear that the regime might hand over control over other provinces to terrorist groups."