Yemen Arab Republic (YAR)Western Asia, AsiaSeptember 27, 1962
Event Summary
On the night of September 26, 1962, one week after Imam Ahmad's death and the accession of his son Muhammad al-Badr as Imam and King of Yemen, army units led by Colonel Abdullah al-Sallal, whom al-Badr had just appointed commander of the royal guard, shelled the new Imam's Sanaa residence and seized the radio station, armory, telephone exchange, and airport. By late morning the capital was secure and the radio announced the Imamate's fall; the revolutionaries proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic, with Sallal heading a Revolutionary Command Council, announcing the fall of the Imamate over Sanaa radio on September 27 and forming a government on September 28. Al-Badr, initially reported dead beneath the rubble, escaped the palace disguised in soldiers' clothing and reached the Saudi border, where northern Zaydi tribes rallied to him.
Egypt recognized the republic within days and sent troops under a defense pact, Saudi Arabia and Jordan backed the royalists, and the coup opened the eight year North Yemen civil war.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Imam Muhammad al-Badr, King of Yemen for one week, deposed; he escaped the shelled palace in disguise, fled to the Saudi Arabian border region, and led the royalist side of the civil war. He was not captured or physically harmed in the coup.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Abdullah al-Sallal (colonel, coup leader, first president of the Yemen Arab Republic)
Muhammad al-Badr (deposed Imam and King, escaped to lead the royalists)
Abdul Latif Dayfallah and Ali Abdul Mughni (officers among the coup's core planners)
Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egyptian president whose forces backed the republic)
Sources
The war began with a 1962 coup by revolutionary republicans led by the army under Abdullah al-Sallal, who dethroned the newly crowned King and Imam Muhammad al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency; the imamate guard refused to surrender, the palace was shelled by tanks and artillery, and by late morning on September 26 all areas of Sanaa were secure and the radio broadcast that al-Badr had been overthrown.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, North Yemen civil waropen source ↗
Imam Ahmad died on September 19, 1962 and al-Badr was proclaimed Imam; one of al-Badr's first acts was appointing Colonel Abdullah Sallal, a known Nasserist, as commander of the palace guard, and a week later, as shelling of his Dar al-Bashair residence intensified, al-Badr fled the palace disguised in soldiers' clothing and subsequently reached Saudi Arabia, while the Revolutionary Command Council announced the fall of the Imamate over Sanaa radio and a new government was formed on 28 September.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Muhammad al-Badropen source ↗
The new government was recognized by the United Arab Republic on September 29 and by the Soviet Union the next day, while the United Kingdom and the United States withheld recognition; Egypt supplied troops and supplies to the republicans while Saudi Arabia and Jordan supported the deposed Imam's royalists, and al-Badr rallied the tribes of the north after escaping Sanaa.
SOURCE REVIEWEDGlobalSecurity.org, North Yemen Civil War (1962-1970)open source ↗
Contemporary reporting recorded that coup leader Colonel Abdullah Sallal, newly appointed commander of the palace guard, announced in Sanaa that his troops had killed the Imam and controlled the country, and that weeks later it was learned al-Badr had in fact escaped the shelled ruins of his palace and taken refuge in the hill country whose tribes were traditionally loyal to the Imam.
SOURCE REVIEWEDTIME, Yemen: For Allah and the Imam (contemporary archive report)open source ↗
Editorial Note
Date discrepancy: the assault began the night of September 26, 1962 (the event is known in Yemen as the 26 September Revolution) while the dataset dates the record September 27, the day the Revolutionary Command Council announced the Imamate's fall over Sanaa radio; the republic's first government followed on September 28. The coup makers initially claimed al-Badr was dead; he had escaped unharmed, matching the dataset fate deposed; fled the country. Arc link: Sallal was himself deposed in a bloodless coup in November 1967.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Imam Muhammad al-Badr, King of Yemen for one week, deposed; he escaped the shelled palace in disguise, fled to the Saudi Arabian border region, and led the royalist side of the civil war. He was not captured or physically harmed in the coup..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; fled the country. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Imam of Yemen Reported Slain in Coup After a Week on Throne,” September 28, 1962
“Yemeni Rebel Army Executes 10; Appoints a Premier and Cabinet,” September 29, 1962
“Coup is Proclaimed by Army in Yemen,” November 5, 1967
“Army Coup Ousts Yemeni President,” by Eric Pace, November 6, 1967
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →