ALI Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's former president and long-time strongman, has been killed as his loyalists and Shiite rebels battled for control of the capital.
A video circulating online purported to show Mr Saleh's body, his eyes open but glassy, motionless with a gaping head wound, as he was being carried in a blanket by rebel fighters chanting "God is great" who then dump him into a pickup vehicle.
Blood stained his shirt under a dark suit.
Circumstances of his death remained unclear but some officials said rebels killed him as he tried to leave the capital.
Mr Saleh's death was announced on Monday by the rebels, known as Houthis, who have been fighting Mr Saleh's forces for the past week.
Two of Mr Saleh's associates and a third official from the government of Yemen's internationally recognised president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, have confirmed the death.
His death and the fighting between his supporters and the Houthis puts the civil war on an unpredictable path.
Mr Saleh allied with the Houthis in the years after he was ousted from power in 2011, and the support of his loyalist military units was key to helping the Houthis overrun the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, driving out Mr Hadi's government.
But in recent months the alliance frayed amid Houthi suspicions Mr Saleh was leaning toward the Saudi-led coalition backing Mr Hadi.
Mr Hadi's forces, trying to take advantage of the collapse of the alliance, announced they would march on Sanaa.
But even without Mr Saleh's loyalists, the rebels remain a powerful force.
"The leader of treason has been killed," Houthis' TV network al-Masriah said.
Several Houthi military officials said Mr Saleh was killed as he headed along with top party leaders from Sanaa to his hometown of Sanhan, nearby.
Houthi fighters followed him in 20 armoured vehicles, attacked and killed him and almost all those with him, the officials said.
A Houthi media official, Abdel-Rahman al-Ahnomi said Houthi fighters killed Mr Saleh as he tried to flee to Saudi Arabia though the province of Marib, to the east of the capital.
Mr Saleh ruled Yemen for more than 30 years.
He was forced to resign after months of protests against him during an Arab Spring uprising in 2011.
Yemen has been in the grip of a man-made famine for the past two years. Ongoing conflict, exacerbated by a Saudi-led blockade of the nation's ports, has devastated the lives of millions. The prices of food, fuel and other essentials have sky-rocketed, leaving 11 million people without access to safe water, 400,000 children suffering from malnutrition, while 2,200 people have died from cholera.
