Yemen fighting spreads outside capital

Attacks in Yemen by anti-government rebels spread outside Sanaa for the first time and led to fierce artillery fire and airstrikes, witnesses said. At least three military bases were overrun Friday in a region about 50 miles northeast of Sanaa and both sides reported large, but unspecified numbers of dead and wounded, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fighting eased after sunset, but was expected to resume Saturday, both sides told the newspaper. President Ali Abdullah Saleh deployed aircraft to bomb rebel positions and residents of the town of Nehem said the military shelled the town in a bid to roust rebels. An unidentified rebel in the town told the Journal by phone the military attacks only strengthened the rebels' resolve. "Our blood is not cheap and we will avenge from the government for every drop of Nehem blood that is shed," he said. Fighting has gradually escalated since Sunday when Saleh refused to step down in a deal brokered by Arab states that would give him and his family immunity. Since then, at least 100 people have been killed in fighting, the report said.