WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh was injured much more seriously than first reported in a weekend rocket attack on his palace, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, raising further questions about his continued rule.
Saleh, who is receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, was initially said to have received a shrapnel wound, and his vice president was quoted on Monday as saying the president would return to Yemen within days.
But the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saleh was in more serious condition than that, with burns over roughly 40 percent of his body.
Saleh's injuries raise fresh questions about the future of Yemen, where battles between pro- and anti-Saleh forces have raised the specter of a civil war in a nation that is home to one of al Qaeda's most potent affiliates.
The latest development also could help with a push by the United States and Saudi Arabia to ease the 69-year-old ruler from power in an effort to stabilize Yemen after months of anti-government protests. He has been in power for nearly 33 years.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Monday for Yemen's government to begin a political transition during Saleh's absence.In the capital Sanaa, thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Yemeni vice president's residence on Tuesday, demanding the acting leader for Saleh form a transitional council to create a new government.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball in London; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by Will Dunham)
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