"Zero hour is coming to the battlefield in Sanaa," former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Sunday in his last public statement, quoted on Monday by the Al Arabiya broadcaster. "The country has to be saved from the madness of the Houthi group."
On Sunday, Saleh also refused to cooperate with the Houthi rebels, the group officially known as Ansar Allah.
Earlier on Monday, the Houthis blew up the house of the former president in Sanaa.
Later in the day, extremely graphic footage emerged on social media, presumably showing the corpse of Saleh. The video shows a man's body resembling Saleh. However, the authorities are yet to confirm the authenticity of the video and the identity of the person depicted.
READ MORE: Unverified Graphic Footage Allegedly Shows Corpse of Yemen's Ex-President Saleh
Speaking with Sputnik Arabic, a senior Yemeni Army official, Maj. Gen. Yahya al Mahdi, had confirmed the death of the former president. The Yemeni Army is an ally of Ansar Allah. According to al Mahdi, Saleh was killed several several hours ago on the Sinhan-Maareb highway amid his secret movements through the country.
The attack took place following a six-day fight in Yemen's capital between Houthi rebels and forces supporting ex-President Saleh, including a Saudi-led international coalition. The clashes broke out after an alleged attempt by the rebels to seize the main mosque in Sanaa. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Monday that the known toll from three hospitals had reached at least 125 killed and 238 wounded in the past six days.
The Saudi-led coalition has started an operation in Yemen in 2015 at the request of the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels allied with Saleh forced him into exile.
