Yemeni president fires army chiefs

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the Yemeni president, has sacked two military chiefs close to his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, according to the official SABA news agency.

Air force chief General Mohamed Saleh al-Ahmar, Saleh's half-brother, and head of the presidential guard General Tarek Mohamed Abdullah Saleh, his nephew were both fired, SABA cited a presidential decree as saying on Friday.

Hadi also fired nearly 20 top officers of old-regime loyalists in a major shake-up of the country's military, but left Saleh's son, nephew and other allies in place as heads of important military units.

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi is tasked with restructuring the army as part of the transition deal under which he came him to power.

Saleh had ruled Yemen for 33 years.

Correspondents say the shake-up is a blow to Saleh, who finally agreed to implement a power transfer deal last last year, after trying to face down mass protests and clashes with tribal groups.

As part of the agreement, Hadi was elected president in a one-candidate poll in February.

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis took part in demonstrations on Friday to demand reform of the military.

Earlier on Friday, a suicide bomber blew up a motorbike near intelligence offices in eastern Yemen, but no injuries were reported, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Another suicide attack was aborted in the south, the agency quotes the defence ministry as saying.