Saleh to return from Saudi in days: Official

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, taken to Saudi Arabia for wounds suffered during an attack on his palace earlier this month, will return to the country within days, a Yemeni official said on Friday.

"The presidency has confirmed to me that the president will return within coming days," Abdu al-Janadi, Yemen's deputy information minister told Reuters. He did not specify a particular date.

"The president's health is improving continuously," he said.

Saleh's health and fate have been the subject of conflicting reports since the attack on June 3 that wounded him and members of his cabinet, and he has not appeared in public since then.

Saudi and Yemeni official media have reported that Saleh has spoken with King Abdullah as well as Bahrain's king in recent days. Saleh's formal renunciation of power, after months of protests against him, is a principal demand of his oppenents, including tribal figures and a group of opposition parties.

Earlier, a Saudi official said that mbattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"The Yemeni president will not return to Yemen," the official said, requesting anonymity.

"It has not been decided where he will stay," the official added, apparently suggesting that Saleh might eventually leave Saudi Arabia for another country.

The official did not specify whether the decision not to return home was taken by Saleh himself.

The veteran leader was flown to Riyadh on June 4 on board a Saudi medical aircraft, a day after he was wounded in a bomb explosion at a mosque inside his Sanaa presidential compound.

He has not been seen in public since the attack.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.