Suspected separatists killed four soldiers and wounded 13 including a senior security official in two attacks, officials said today.
Separatism in the south is one of three major security challenges facing Yemen, which also has a fragile ceasefire with Shi'ite rebels in the north and is running a campaign against a potent wing of al Qaeda militants.
In one of the latest attacks, gunmen ambushed a security patrol in the flashpoint province of Lahej last night, killing four soldiers and wounding nine, a Defence Ministry website said, citing a regional security director.
In the other assault yesterday evening, suspected secessionists attacked military sites in the southern city of Dalea with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, a Yemeni official said.
A provincial security director was wounded along with three soldiers.
Violence in the south has increased in recent months, with separatist ambushes and government crackdowns leading to many deaths on both sides.
North and south Yemen formally united in 1990, but many in the south, where most of Yemen's oil facilities are located, complain northerners exploit the south's resources and discriminate against southern citizens.
Yemen has been a focus of Western security concerns after a string of attacks attributed to the Yemen-based regional arm of al-Qaeda, including an attempted bombing of a US-bound plane and a suicide attack targeting the British ambassador.
Reuters