At least 10 women wounded in protest in S. Yemen

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's supporters intercepted on Sunday evening a woman protest march demanding Saleh's ouster, injuring more than 10 of them in the southern province of Taiz, medics and witnesses said on Monday. "Supporters of Saleh's regime threw stones and a sound bomb at a march of woman protesters heading towards the epicenter protest camp dubbed Liberation Square in al-Jahmalia area in Taiz, wounding more than ten women," a medic told Xinhua. Despite the attack, the protesters continued their march, witnesses said. Taiz, some 200 km south of the capital Sanaa, has witnessed daily confrontations between Saleh's loyalists and their opponents. Meanwhile, heavy gunfire was exchanged between government troops and anti-government armed tribesmen backed by defected army forces in and around the central city of Taiz on Sunday night, according to residents and eyewitnesses. No casualties were reported. Saleh has confronted nine-month-long protest requiring an end to his 33-year rule. The embattled president promised again on Saturday that he will leave power in the coming days in a speech aired by the state television. However, officials of the opposition coalition the Joint Meeting Parties played down Saleh's promises, vowing to continue their "peaceful struggle to force Saleh's resignation."