Three policemen injured in clashes with gunmen in Yemen's Aden

ADEN, Yemen, March 1 (Xinhua) -- At least three policemen of the Yemeni military police forces were injured Thursday during armed clashes with unknown gunmen in the southern port city of Aden, a police officer said.


A group of armed men believed to be linked to the pro-secession Southern Movement opened fire at a military patrol who were trying to re-open a number of blocked roads in the al-Mansoura district in Aden, injuring at least three policemen, the police officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Witnesses told Xinhua that many armored vehicles and army reinforcements arrived to the city in an attempt to remove roadblocks set up by the pro-separatism gunmen.


In the port city of Aden, a stronghold of the pro-separatism Southern Movement, protests have been staged on a daily basis by southern activists, who want to end the north-south union and declare independence in response to the alleged discrimination by the northern people and a lack of financial aid.


South and North Yemen unified peacefully in 1990, but the relationship deteriorated by 1994, when a southern insurgency was quelled in a civil war. Calls for separation in the country's southern regions were renewed in 2007.