Rebels Control Capital, Yemen Radio Reports

Forces opposed to head of state Ali Nasser Hasani were in full control of this capital Friday after nearly two weeks of bitter fighting between rival Marxist factions that may have left as many as 12,000 dead.

Aden radio said that Prime Minister Haider abu Bakr Attas has been named interim head of state. It said that the ruling Socialist Party’s Central Committee dismissed Hasani and stripped him of all state and party titles.

It also said that Hasani, whose whereabouts were unknown, faced trial, but it did not specify charges.

Attas was not in the country Friday, having traveled to Moscow a week ago after a visit to New Delhi. He met there with Yegor K. Ligachev, the No. 2 man in the Politburo, and Soviet television said that Ligachev pledged continued Soviet support for Aden’s Marxist government.

Telephone Ties Restored

Aden residents reported that this city of 350,000 was in the hands of the president’s rivals after bitter fighting between opposing factions of the Marxist ruling Socialist Party erupted on Jan. 13.

Telephone links with the outside world were restored on Friday, and residents were out shopping during the day but returned to their homes by sunset, although there was no curfew. There was no apparent shortage of food supplies.

Aden television resumed its normal eight-hour broadcast period at 4 p.m. with news bulletins and musical shows.

The fighting appeared to have been confined to Aden, the key to this impoverished south Arabian nation of 2.2 million people. There were no reports of clashes outside the immediate vicinity of the capital.