Three Yemeni soldiers were killed and two others wounded on Tuesday as secessionist gunmen launched an attack on a military convoy in the country's southern province of al-Dhalea, a security official told Xinhua.

The military convoy was travelling on a main road in central al- Dhalea province when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, leaving at least three soldiers killed and two others injured at the scene, the local security official said on condition of anonymity.

Soldiers of the military convoy hunted down the secessionist attackers, sparking a short shootout in the region, the security source said.

Meanwhile, local medics told Xinhua anonymously that "three civilians were also wounded in the ongoing fire exchange between the troops and the secessionist gunmen."

Government sources attributed the attack to an armed faction of the pro-secession Southern Movement.

North and South Yemen unified peacefully in 1990, but their relationship deteriorated in 1994. Calls for separation in the country's southern regions were renewed in 2007, as southerners have complained of being marginalized.

Pro-secession protests have multiplied in the south amid a worsening economic situation in Yemen. Endi

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