3 people killed, 15 injured in clashes with separatists

By Nasser Arrabyee/07/06/2010

Three people at least were killed and more than 15 others including four women were injured in clashes between gunmen calling for separation and security forces in the city of Al Dhale'e, south of Yemen, local sources said Monday.

Eyewitnesses said that armed separatists were trying to force people to go on a strike called for by the separatists and security forces tried to prevent them.

"The separatists wanted all shops, schools to keep closed, and they wanted everybody to go on strike with," said the shop owner Mohammed Saleh.

" They have the right to go on strike and protest over what ever they like, but it's not their right to force those who do not want to be with them."

Some security people were injured in the clashes in which separatists used RPG and security forces used tanks and armored vehicles, said the sources.

Earlier, the separatists groups agreed to implement a general strike on the first Monday of every month, to demand the separation of the south, which united with the north in 1990.

The separatist groups claim they were marginalized and discriminated against after the civil war of 1994, which ended up with the defeat of the separatists.