Separatists kill two and wound three in Yemen ambush

Published on Saturday 20 February 2010 19:30

REBELS in south Yemen have killed the director of a criminal investigations unit in an ambush, security sources said.

Another person was shot dead and three more were injured when the separatists fired upon a vehicle travelling through the south of the country.

The government of Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, faces a secessionist uprising in the south. It has also been battling a Shi'ite insurgency in the north and a resurgent al-Qaeda.

The northern rebels and the government agreed last week to a truce to end a war that has raged on and off since 2004.

In a separate incident on Friday, clashes erupted between security forces and unidentified gunmen in the southern province of al-Dalea.

People in the south, home to most of Yemen's oil facilities, have long complained that northerners have abused a 1990 agreement uniting the country to grab their resources and discriminate against them. Western governments and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al-Qaeda is exploiting the instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants.