Yemeni Congress accuses general in plot

The Yemeni General People's Congress Wednesday accused Gen Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar of engineering a failed presidential assassination plot last year. The attempt involved a bomb explosion last July inside the presidential compound that killed several people and severely injured President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh's political faction blamed Mohsen and al-Islah -- Yemen's Islamic political party -- calling the attack an attempted coup, the Socialist Forum said. Yemen Today, which is backed financially by Saleh, accused Mohsen of being an al-Qaida sympathizer, saying his men were responsible for Monday's Sanaa suicide bombing that killed 140 and injured 300. The General People's Congress called on the state to try those "who continue to sully the flag through their treacherous acts," in a statement posted on its website.