[سفيان]

Twelve wounded in south Yemen clashes: medic



SANAA — Twelve people, mostly policemen, were wounded Saturday in clashes between Yemeni security forces and southern separatist gunmen in the city of Daleh, a medical official said. </p>The gunfight broke when police and army troops attempted to arrest several activists of the Southern Movement, which calls for the independence of the regions of former South Yemen, witnesses said.
"The hospital of the city of Daleh has received 12 injured, mostly policemen," the medical official told AFP.
"Some of them are critically wounded," he added, requesting anonymity.
Witnesses said that security forces had deployed in the southern city, blocking its entrances and imposing curfew, as the interior ministry continued to hunt separatist activists accused of violent acts.
On Thursday, three people, including two policemen, were killed in similar clashes in the southern province of Lahj, while police and demonstrators exchanged fire in the town of Mayfah, in the province of Shabwa.
Pro-independence protests have multiplied in the south amid Yemen's worsening economic situation and complaints of discrimination in favour of northerners by the government.
South Yemen was independent from 1967 until it united with the north in 1990. The south seceded in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended when the south was overrun by northern troops.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. ©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/...K?Open********