Dozens of people were killed during clashes in the Yemeni capital, a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned following three months away saying he was "carrying the dove of peace."
As the death toll mounted, the United States repeated its call for an end to the violence and a transition towards democracy.
More than 40 people were killed on Saturday in battles that hit several neighborhoods across Sanaa, including Change Square, epicenter of anti-regime demonstrations, an activist from the protest organizing committee said.
He said hundreds of others had been wounded as the death toll spiraled to 173 people over the past week. State news agency Saba said 24 of Saleh's soldiers had also been killed.
"We slept and woke up to the non-stop sound of gunfire," one Sanaa resident told AFP as clashes between rival military units raged in the city center.
As gunfire echoed around the capital, hundreds of thousands of people set out on a march from Change Square, which itself came under renewed fire from the security forces.
Flames leapt from shops and homes along Sanaa's central business avenue, witnesses said.
An eerie calm finally prevailed in the late afternoon as the guns fell silent.
A dissident military spokesman said 11 of his division's troops were killed Saturday and 112 wounded when elite Republican Guard troops, commanded by President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son Ahmed, attacked a camp of the First Armored Brigade north of Change Square.
"The camp was targeted by 60 shells," said the spokesman.
Republican Guards have engaged in a week of clashes with dissident soldiers from the First Armored Brigade, headed by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who have protected anti-regime protesters camped out on Change Square.
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