Yemen troops, separatists clash

The separatist Southern Movement suspended its participation in UN-sponsored talks raising fresh tensions in Yemen, as nine soldiers were wounded Saturday in a clash with separatist fighters.The clash coincided with a drone attack that killed three suspected Al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen, tribal sources said.An official in the southern province of Lahij told AFP that separatists opened fire on an army convoy and three soldiers were wounded in a gunbattle.The separatists last week abducted 12 soldiers and threatened to kill them unless the army handed overa military base to offset the growing influence of the Shiite Huthi militia that has seized Sanaa.Tensions in Yemen have soared since the Huthis overran the presidential palace in the capital in February and placed Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi under house arrest.Hadi escaped last week to Aden, where he has been reconsolidating his grip on power buoyed by support from Gulf states which have relocated their embassies to the southern city.Several countries, including Britain and the United States, closed their embassies in Sanaa over securityfears following the Huthi takeover.Hadi’s escape to Aden has turned what was the capital of an independent south Yemen before unification in 1990 into a diplomatic hub.The Southern Movement, which seeks the secession of the regions of the formerly independent south, announced overnight Friday that it was pulling out of UN-brokered talks.