Sana'a, Yemen - dpa
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 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.