The General People’s Congress of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh acknowledged on Friday that a number of its members were killed in clashes with the Houthi insurgents. The party said in a statement that members of the guard corps of Tarek Mohammed Abdullah Saleh were killed on Thursday in the clashes. The General National Congress website said three members were killed and Saleh’s party put the toll at four. The party added that six were wounded in the fighting. The clashes had initially erupted when Houthis launched an attack on Wednesday against the houses of Congress leaderships and Saleh relatives, said the party statement. It added that Saleh’s forces were “surprised with the attack.” It revealed that a joint committee from both the Saleh and Houthi sides was formed to contain the unrest, but it appears that some forces do not want calm. The clashes had erupted in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Wednesday. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that tribal mediations and others led by Saleh al-Sammad of the political coup council had taken place to restore calm, but the escalation had thwarted their attempts. Al-Arabiya television said that the escalation had reached such an extent that Houthi militias had besieged the house of coup government foreign minister Hisham Sharaf. Explosions were also heard near the houses of Saleh’s relatives in Sana’a.