Yemen's military blamed al Qaeda for a rocket attack on the presidential palace in Sanaa on Friday that killed seven and injured President Ali Abdullah Saleh, it said in an Internet posting on Sunday.
Diplomats and analysts have accused the Saleh government of exaggerating the al Qaeda threat in Yemen to help it win global support in the fight against the militant group.
"President Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived last night to Saudi Arabia to complete medical tests following the criminal and cowardly attack by members of al Qaeda and the criminal elements behind it," Yemeni military online newspaper, 26sep.net, said in the posting.
Saleh has blamed the attacks on a powerful tribal federation that has been fighting his forces in Sanaa.
Yemeni sources said a growing number of people in Saleh's inner circle felt the attack might have been carried out by General Ali Mohsen who has broken from Saleh and sided with anti-government protesters.
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