Yemeni police secure a street in Sanaa on July 18 Yemen\'s opposition accused the government of attempting to assassinate a leader of Al-Islah party on Wednesday by firing at his car in Sanaa, an opposition website said. Meanwhile, a spokesman for a preparatory commission said the opposition is to form a \"national coalition council\" to coordinate efforts against embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been hospitalised in Saudi Arabia for blast wounds for over a month.
Mohammed Abdullah al-Yadumi\'s car was fired on about 2:00 pm (1000 GMT), said a statement attributed to the Common Forum of parliamentary opposition parties, carried on alsahwa-yemen.net, which is affiliated with the Islamist Al-Islah (Reform) party.
The Common Forum \"holds the national security leadership, the head of the Republican Guards, the head of the special guards and the leader of central security responsible for this criminal event,\" the statement said.
The shooting was \"an attempt at escalation and to reshuffle the deck, and push the country to civil war, under the illusion that this will enable them to remain in power,\" it said.
The statement did not specify whether or not Yadumi, who heads the high commission of Al-Islah, was in the vehicle when it was fired upon.
Since January, protesters have been calling for Saleh, who has been in power since 1978, to step down. Deputy Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi said on Saturday that Saleh will return home from Saudi Arabia \"soon.\"
The opposition may be moving to unite its efforts before Saleh returns.
On Tuesday night, a preparatory committee approved the creation of a \"national coalition council,\" Ahmed al-Sabri, the spokesman for the committee, told AFP.
The aim is to bring together the Common Forum parliamentary opposition parties, the young protesters, the Southern Movement, which advocated southern secession but in May said it would support a federal system, northern Shiite rebels, civil society representatives and others, Sabri said.
The committee will announce a national coalition council on August 1, he said, adding that its mission would be to relaunch protests against Saleh.
The council aims to end divisions among the various components of the opposition.
\"The leaders of the protests do not act in coordination,\" one opposition member said, citing divisions between northern Shiite rebels and the Al-Islah Sunni opposition.
\"There are doubts among certain protesters about the intentions of dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar,\" with some wondering if he is in fact an ally of the regime, he added.
Ahmar commands Yemen\'s northwest military district but, along with several other generals and a number of troops, has declared his support for anti-Saleh protesters, while elite units such as the Republican Guards have remained loyal to the president.
Also illustrating divisions among opposition members, a group of protesters on Saturday announced the creation of a 17-member \"presidential council\" to run the country in the event of Saleh\'s departure, which has not been well-received by other sections of the opposition.