One protester killed in Yemen

SANA’A - At least one person was killed and several were wounded Thursday in a landmine explosion when scores of anti-government protesters were marching in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan, police said.

The explosion took place in Lodar town, hours after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered his security forces to protect the demonstrators, a police official told Xinhua.

“The protest rally halted immediately after the blast and the injured were rushed to a hospital,” the official said.

Some of the protesters shouted slogans against national unity, demanding the south be seceded from the north.

Northern and southern parts were unified in 1990 according to a deal between the People’s General Congress and the Yemeni Socialist Party. However, the deal fell apart, leading to a crisis between the two allies, which developed into a civil war in 1994.

Nowadays, voices rise in south Yemen where secessionist sentiments are simmering, calling for disengagement from the north and the restoration of the southern state.

Inspired by the Egyptian popular uprising, thousands of Yemenis have been staging daily protest rallies through streets of major cities across the country demanding an end to the 33-year rule of President Saleh.