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Pro-secession gunmen kill 3 Yemeni soldiers in restive south

19 March 2012 21:30 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Gunmen belonging to the pro- secession Southern Movement on Monday sneaked into an outpost of the Yemeni army forces and killed three soldiers and wounded two others in the southern province of al-Dhalea, a security official said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Four armed men infiltrated an army outpost of the 35th Armored Brigade positioned at the main entrance between the port city of Aden and al-Dhalea province, killing at least three soldiers and injuring two others, the local security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The gunmen opened fire at the outpost and then tossed home- made grenades toward the army soldiers killing them immediately at the scene," the official said, adding that "the injured troops were in critical condition."

The security official blamed an armed faction of the pro- secession Southern Movement for masterminding the militant attack against the army troops.

Meanwhile, the country’s Interior Ministry announced that the army forces, battling terrorists in the southern province of Abyan, detained at least six Somali nationals suspected of belonging to al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab militant group, while they were attempting to join fighting alongside with the insurgents against the army forces there.

"Officers at the 39th Army Brigade moved the Somali detainees into the port city of Aden for criminal investigations," the ministry said in a brief statement posted on its website on Monday.

The Yemeni army and security forces have recently been attacked by the Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) across the restive south.

The AQAP, entrenching itself mainly in Yemen’s southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, is on the terrorist list of the United States, which considers it as an increasing threat to its national security.