The FINANCIAL -- EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton added her voice to US calls for restraint in Yemen on Wednesday a day after Republican Guard troops attacked the country's defence ministry.

Led by the son of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the assault with heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades left five people dead.

"The High Representative is following with concern the developments around the Ministry of Defence in Sanaa, coming two weeks after the looting of the Ministry of Interior," said a statement issued by Ashton's spokesman.

As EUbusiness reported, the attack came a week after President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi ordered a restructuring of the armed forces as part of a UN-backed plan to ease power away from veteran strongman Saleh who had ruled the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation since 1978.

The EU statement referred to "demands relating to social or working conditions" and said "purely peaceful means" were the only valid approach, calling on "full implementation" of Hadi's decrees, in line with Gulf Cooperation Council and UN Security Council positions.

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