Pro-Saleh colonel killed in clashes with Yemen rebels

Sanaa: A Yemeni colonel loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been killed in clashes with rebels, Saleh`s party said Sunday, in an unprecedented escalation of violence between the two allies.

Colonel Khaled al-Rida was killed in clashes in the rebel-held capital Sanaa late Saturday, a statement released by Saleh`s General People`s Congress party said. 

While the statement did not name the Huthi rebels, it accused a "group that knows no morality or oaths" of being behind the killing — a thinly-veiled reference to the Huthis, who over the past week have lashed out at Saleh as a "back-stabber" and "traitor" as tensions rise within the rebel alliance.