Three killed in South Yemen protests

By Nasser Arrabyee 25/07/2009

Three people were killed and four others injured in Al Dhale'a and Abyan, south Yemen where anti-unity protesters are rising, security sources said Saturday.

Armed protestors calling for disunity between south and north fired at patrolling security vehicles in Al Dhale'a killing a man and a soldier and injuring four others including three soldiers, security sources said.

The security sources also said that three gun men attacked the 45-year old shop owner, Mohammed Abdullah Qasem and shot him to death while working in his grocery in Al Joul, between Khanfar and Zenjobar in Abyan province.

The victim is from Taiz in the north and the attackers were southerners loyal to the former Jihadist and tribal chief Tarik Al Fadhli, said the security sources.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators chanting anti-unity slogan, and carrying flags of the former southern State also gathered in Al Habeelain, Lahj province, where three northerners from one family were killed earlier this month by gunmen who are still at large until now.

These developments came after at least 10 people were killed and 20 others injured last Thursday in clashes between security men and armed supporters of Tarik Al Fadhli who calls for separation of the south from the north.

Al Fadhli was a leading Jihadist in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden in 1980s, and a prominent fighter with President Saleh's forces against the southern secessionists in 1994, before he switched sides with the latter early this year.