Factory Explosion Follows Yemeni Forces’ Pullout

In recent days, government forces have abandoned their posts across the country, including areas where northern rebels have long challenged the military and southern provinces where Al Qaeda’s Arabian branch has maintained sanctuaries, Yemeni officials and witnesses said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh cast the government’s losses in stark terms on Sunday, telling a committee from his political party that 6 of Yemen’s 18 provinces “have fallen.”

But some Yemeni officials and analysts said the government withdrawals, and Mr. Saleh’s dramatic claim, might be at least partly a ploy to warn his backers in the West and the Arab world about possible consequences were he to fall from power.

“Sadly, the country is being ripped apart” to maintain Mr. Saleh’s hold on power, said one high-ranking Yemeni official, speaking of the turmoil in Yemen’s outlying areas.

The Yemeni president has often held himself up as the only alternative to chaos or Qaeda-style extremism. Last week, battered by the defections of top military supporters as well as vast demonstrations in Sana, the capital, and in other major cities, he took part in discussions mediated by American diplomats aimed at a peaceful transfer of power.

The talks bogged down, and Mr. Saleh has since hardened his public stance, saying he would make no more concessions.

Mr. Saleh’s government is facing real challenges, and it was not clear whether he was exploiting the situation for political gain or not. Certainly, the huge demonstrations in cities across Yemen have strained the capacities of Yemen’s fragile state, pushing police officers and soldiers back from town centers and testing their loyalties.

The strains have grown worse since government supporters opened fire on protesters in the capital on March 18, killing at least 50 and igniting outrage across the country.

One thing is clear: Yemen’s opposition parties, as well as the loose-knit youth groups that led the protests challenging Mr. Saleh, believe the chaos and violence are nothing more than a cynical political ploy.

On Monday, the opposition parties, known as the J.M.P., released a statement saying of the factory explosion: “This horrible crime came after the order of the authority to openly withdraw its military and security in favor of Qaeda and other armed groups, in a desperate attempt of President Saleh to confirm his argument that Yemen is just a ticking time bomb.”

The explosion on Monday took place as crowds of impoverished local residents were looting the factory for valuable weapons, witnesses said. It appears to have been accidental, possibly caused by a lighted cigarette on gunpowder or a gun used to open a room full of dynamite.

If Mr. Saleh was hoping for support from neighboring Saudi Arabia, which sent military forces to shore up its ally and neighbor, Bahrain, earlier this month, he is not likely to succeed.

The Saudis have been involved in efforts to secure a “dignified exit” from power, according to an Arab diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with diplomatic protocol. The Saudis refused a plea for support from the Yemeni foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, who flew to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week.

The Saudis “are not coordinating their initiatives with the Americans,” in part because of lingering anger over the way the United States handled the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, the diplomat said.

But the Saudis seem, if anything, to be more convinced that Mr. Saleh must go. They are in discussions with southern Yemeni tribes to help reinforce security, and they believe Mr. Saleh “has clearly shown that he’s part of the problem,” the diplomat said, adding, “It’s clear that his government is coming to an end, and there has to be an exit.”

The Saudis are especially concerned about the situation just across their border in northern Yemen, where Houthi rebels — who have battled the Yemeni government intermittently for years — occupied the capital city of Yemen’s Saada Province for the first time last Tuesday. One witness said the rebels took control with minimal fighting.