At least three Yemeni soldiers have been shot dead in an attack southeast of the capital, Sanaa, a government official has said. Armed men opened fire on a checkpoint in Shabwa province, where the military is carrying out operations against suspected fighters from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, early on Sunday.
"Three soldiers were killed and one was injured when unknown armed people believed to belong to the southern movement attacked a checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Ataq," an official told the Reuters news agency.
Sanaa is battling an independence movement in the south of the country and so-called Houti rebels in the north, as well as the domestic al-Qaeda affiliate.
The attack came just days before a meeting in London to discuss how to tackle the al-Qaeda movement in Yemen.
On Wednesday, ministers and officials from 21 countries will gather in London for for talks called after Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed it had armed a Nigerian accused of attempting blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day.
Elsewhere in southern Yemen on Sunday, at least two protesters were injured in clashes with security forces in the southern city of Dhaleh.
The violence reportedly broke out as the protesters, who were mainly students, demanded the release of a teacher who had been detained by the authorities for two months.
The latest unrest came after the so-called Southern Movement, a loose coalition of opposition groups, called for a six-hour general strike on Monday morning and demonstrations on Tuesday.
North and south Yemen united in 1990 under Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, but ongoing grievances led to a brief civil war in 1994, which was won by the north.
Many southerners complain that state jobs and resources are unfairly distributed, favouring the north.
A Yemeni government official has said that three soldiers with the national army were killed in an attack earlier today, southeast of the capital, .

According to reports, armed men started firing at a checkpoint in the province of Shabwa, where security forces are conducting operations against suspected rebels for al-Qaeda.

"Three soldiers were killed and one was injured when unknown armed people believed to belong to the southern movement attacked a checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Ataq," said an unnamed official to the  news agency. He commented that the alleged attackers escaped following the shooting.

The incident occurred several days before a scheduled meeting in London, where members of 21 countries will discuss the resurgent al-Qaeda affiliate in Pakistan, in the light of the failed alleged December 25 bombing of a US flight bound from Amsterdam to Detroit. The Yemeni al-Qaeda said that it had armed the man accused of trying to blow the plane up, a Nigerian.

Yemen declared open war against al-Qaeda after the incident, and launched airstrikes against the group, which are claimed to have killed six members.

The Yemeni government is currently battling secessionists in the country's south, as well as the  rebels in the north.