15 injured in security sweep in Yemen separatist stronghold (Roundup)

Mar 6, 2010, 15:56 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - At least 15 people, including five soldiers, were injured as security forces launched a major security sweep in the southern Yemeni province of Dhalea, the stronghold of a separatist movement, police and medical sources said Saturday.

Police and army deployed troops in several districts of the province to chase down wanted activists from the Southern Movement that calls for the south of Yemen to secede from the north.

'Clashes erupted in some areas of Dhalea after police intercepted armed militiamen of the Southern Movement,' a police source told the German Press Agency dpa.

He said the operation was prompted by a spate of deadly attacks against police officials and citizens working in Dhalea and are originally from northern provinces.

Southern movement sources said police arrested nine activists in the operation.

Residents said local authorities imposed a nighttime curfew in the provincial capital of Dhalea starting from 1800 local time (1500 GMT).

Southern areas of Yemen have been the scene of a series of violent anti-government protests and attacks which have left dozens of casualties among protesters and security forces.

The violence highlights the growing tensions between southern and northern Yemen, 20 years after the two parts of the country were unified.

Separatists groups claim that the central government discriminates against southerners, especially after a civil war in 1994 that ended with the defeat of the army of the formerly socialist south by northern forces led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.