Sources from Yemen's General People's Congress confirmed their leader and ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed on Monday during fierce clashes in the capital Sanaa with Houthi militias.

Video and images of Saleh’s body showed he had sustained a head injury, potentially a gunshot wound.

Until last week, Saleh's supporters had been fighting alongside the Houthis in a war against Yemen's current president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

For 33 years, Saleh dominated Yemen’s heavily armed tribal society before quitting in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.