At least three Yemeni policemen were killed and five wounded, residents said, in a clash with gunmen in south Yemen today, where separatists are campaigning against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Residents reported that the fighting took place in Abyan province after Abyan, Dalea and Aden saw demonstrations yesterday over the arrest of 21 people accused of rioting.
A government source in Sanaa said the exchange took place when security forces tried to arrest an arms dealer suspected of supplying the separatists.The source said only two died.
People in the south, home to most Yemeni oil facilities, complain that northerners have abused the 1990 agreement uniting the country to grab resources and discriminate against them.
Yemen's government struck a truce on February 11th with Shia rebels who have been fighting over religious, economic and social grievances in the north, allowing the authorities in Sanaa to turn attention to the southern separatist movement as well as al Qaeda militancy.
Yemen rose to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemeni arm of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a US-bound plane in December.
Western governments and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, fear al-Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants to launch attacks in the region and beyond.
A policeman was shot dead in an ambush in the south last week. Demonstrators at the weekend carried the flag of the former South Yemen, which united with the north under the presidency of veteran ruler Saleh in 1990.
Reuters