Mubarak to be tried, over 60 killed in Yemeni clashes

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons will be tried for killing peaceful protesters, while over 60 people were killed in fresh clashes in Yemen Tuesday.

Egypt's General Prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud decided to refer Mubarak and his two sons to a criminal court over charges of intentionally killing peaceful protesters, according to the state-run news agency MENA.

Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal were accused of various charges, including premeditated murder of protesters during the nationwide anti-regime demonstration that toppled Mubarak's 30-year rule, the abuse of presidential power for private gain and profit, and the waste of public funds.

Mubarak is now being detained in a hospital in Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh.

He was forced to resign on Feb. 11 after 18-day nationwide demonstrations, during which some 840 people were killed and more than 6,000 others injured.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces denied last week that it intended to grant Mubarak and his family amnesty, stressing it had absolutely no intention to pardon Mubarak and his family.

In Yemen, at least 49 anti-government armed tribesmen and 15 government soldiers were killed in intensified clashes in the capital Sanaa.

Hundreds from both sides were injured. The Yemeni state TV channel reported that at least one civilian was also killed, and five others, a woman and four children, were injured.

An official from the Interior Ministry told Xinhua the armed tribes of the opposition leader Sadeq al-Ahmar, who is the chieftain of the most powerful Hashid tribe, fired mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) against the ministry and a nearby security camp, killing 15 security forces and setting the highest floor of the Interior Ministry and a small building of the security camp on fire.

Al-Ahmar, who backed protests to oust Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, hired around 3,000 armed tribesmen from the Houthi-led Shiite rebels stationed in the northern province of Saada, according to Houthi sources.

An official from al-Ahmar's office told Xinhua that heavy attacks were launched by government forces against the residential compound of al-Ahmar, leaving at least 49 gunmen dead as RPGs and mortar shells ignited a fire inside al-Ahmar's compound.

The two sides have been trading fire since midday Monday after Saleh refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered deal to ease him out of power and end the political standoff.

The clashes on Monday killed at least 14 government soldiers and seven armed tribesmen, and wounded 61 others, according to a security official.

Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said NATO operations in Libya were merely aimed at ousting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi instead of fulfilling UN resolutions on Libya.

"These actions have been reduced to (an attempt to) overthrow the Gaddafi regime, not fulfill UN resolutions," Rogozin was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

"This is in open conflict with the UN Security Council resolutions," he added.

Rogozin also said Russia would formally ask NATO to clarify an imminent ground operation in Libya during a NATO-Russia Council meeting on Wednesday.

"We have information, and we are going to double-check this information by filing direct written inquiries to NATO," Rogozin said.

NATO said its air campaign had rolled back the ability of Libyan government forces to attack the opposition fighters and their supporters, and had effectively forced Gaddafi himself into hiding.

However, the three-month conflict seems to have reached a deadlock, as the opposition controls the eastern part of Libya and some of the west, but can't advance further westward to the capital Tripoli.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1970 imposed an arms embargo against Libya and slapped sanctions on members of Gaddafi's inner circle, while Resolution 1973 authorized a no-fly zone over Libya.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped the African Union could hammer out a plan for breaking the deadlock in Libya during its meeting Wednesday.

"I hope that some positions will be worked out based on all these approaches (offered by opposition representatives in Benghazi,the African Union and the UN), which allows to stop a bloodshed as soon as possible," Lavrov told a news conference.

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