About five security guards were injured after secessionist gunmen raided a government compound in Yemen's southern province of Lahj on Tuesday evening, a police officer told Xinhua.

The secessionist attackers fired two rocket-propelled grenades against the local council building in Lahj's city of Houta, leaving at least five security guards injured at the scene, the local police officer said on condition of anonymity.

"The two sides exchanged fire for about 20 minutes around the government compound after the attack. There was a heavy blast in the area," he said.

Gunmen suspected of belonging to an armed faction of the pro- secession Southern Movement have stepped up attacks across the country's south recently ahead of a comprehensive national dialogue.

Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has called for separatist groups in the country's southern regions to take part in the planned reconciliation national dialogue to settle disputes and promised to compensate them.

Separatist sentiment escalated after northern troops overran southern regions following a four-month civil war in 1994. Southerners complain of being economically and politically marginalized and discriminated against.

Hadi announced that the government will hold the national dialogue on March 18 to solve disputes among political factions and pave the way for amending the constitution and preparing for presidential elections in 2014. Endi

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