In an audio address delivered on state television late on Friday night, Saleh said the strike, where "seven officers were martyred", was by an "outlaw gang" - the opposition Hashed tribe led by powerful Sadiq al-Ahmar.
Shells hit a mosque in the presidential palace compound where officials, including Saleh, were praying. At least three guards and Sheikh Ali Mohsen al-Matari, an imam at the presidential compound's mosque, died and "several other officials and officers" were wounded, Yemen's state news agency SABA said.
Al Jazreera