SANAA
By Fouad Mosaad
At least 11 people, mostly soldiers, were killed and several injured in an attack allegedly carried out by separatist militants on a military facility in the southern Lahij province, security sources said.
A group of pro-secession gunmen attacked a military outpost in the town of Al-Habilayn, leaving eight soldiers dead, according to security sources.
Three gunmen were also killed in the ensuing clashes, which left an unspecified number of people injured.
Security reinforcements eventually arrived to the area, bringing a state of relative calm in their wake, the sources added.
Tension has been high in Yemen's southern provinces amid sporadic confrontations between the military and armed assailants suspected of belonging to southern secessionist movements.
More than 20 people have been killed and injured since last week. Earlier this month, tribal leaders had called for a "popular uprising" to protest the killing of a tribal chieftain at a security checkpoint.
Southern Yemenis have long complained of widespread discrimination by the central government, citing the recent dismissal of thousands of southerners from government posts and the arbitrary confiscation of property.
Yemen has been in a state of relative chaos since the ouster of long-serving president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.
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