Yemeni forces launched an attack today to recapture a government building occupied by separatists in the south of the country, setting off a gunfight that killed two people, a local official and witnesses said.
Two protesters were shot dead as security forces tried to quash a separatist demonstration in another southern province. Elsewhere in Yemen, thousands gathered for demonstrations to demand an easing of the crackdown on the south.
Under international pressure to quell domestic unrest and focus its sights on al Qaeda, Yemen earlier this week offered to hold talks with southern separatists and hear their grievances.
The offer by president Ali Abdullah Saleh followed an escalation of violence on both sides in south Yemen which left a trail of dead and wounded in recent weeks while insurgent violence elsewhere in the country has faded.
Demonstrations were being held in several cities, with crowds calling for the military to withdraw from southern cities and for the government to halt a sweeping campaign of arrests.
In the southern town of Tor al-Baha, Yemeni forces launched an attack to recapture a government building occupied by armed tribesmen, sparking a gun battle in which two people, including a passer-by, were killed, a local official said.
Tribal gunmen closed off all roads leading to the centre of the town and surrounded security forces, witnesses told Reuters.
"Large military forces launched a campaign this morning to retake the municipality building (in a southern province). But gunmen from the southern movement confronted them and the two sides exchanged fire," the local official said.
He said a large group of armed separatists had been occupying the municipal headquarters of Tor al-Baha for months.
While offering dialogue, Mr Saleh also said the separatist flag would "burn in the days and weeks ahead". The separatists, who lack a unified leadership, have given no public response to the president's offer.
In the southern province of Dalea, two protesters were shot dead and four people were wounded, including two soldiers, and in the city of Taiz, security forces used teargas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators, an opposition source and witnesses said.
Peaceful protests took place in the capital Sanaa, and in the western province of Hudaydah.
Pressure increased on Yemen to concentrate its efforts on containing al Qaeda after the Yemeni-based regional arm of the militant group claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to bomb a US-bound passenger plane in December.
Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen, where 42 per cent of the people live in poverty, to use the country as a base from which to prepare attacks in the region and beyond.
Besides its conflict with the separatists, Yemen is trying to bring an end to a Shi'ite insurgency in the north which drew in oil exporter Saudi Arabia in November.
North and South Yemen united in 1990, but many in the south - home to most of Yemen's oil facilities - complain northerners have seized resources and discriminate against them.
Diplomats say previous talks offers by Sanaa have not been followed by concrete action to tackle southern complaints that Sanaa neglects the south and treats southerners unfairly, including in property disputes, jobs and pension rights.
Some southerners say Saleh's ties to Saudi Arabia, Yemen's biggest donor, have led him to tolerate inroads by the kingdom's puritanical Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam.
Reuters