Clashes claim 17 lives amid Yemen's chaos

Two people, including a child, were killed on Wednesday and an unspecified number of others injured in renewed fighting between army troops and separatist fighters in Yemen's southern Ad Dali' province, eyewitnesses have said.  

The fighting erupted following an attack by separatists on a government building in Ad Dali' City, the provincial capital.

"Soldiers from the 33rd [Army] Division countered the attack, leading to hour-long clashes that left several injured on both sides, along with the two fatalities," eyewitnesses said.

In recent months, southern Yemen has seen frequent clashes between army troops and suspected separatist militants who demand independence from the country's north.

Yemen has been dogged by turmoil since pro-democracy protests in 2011 forced autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after 33 years in power.

15 killed in Yemen tribal feud over 'desert oil'

Seperate clashes between two Yemeni tribes over who owns a piece of land in the southeast believed to be rich in oil left 15 people dead, tribal sources said Wednesday.

Several others were wounded in firefights that erupted Tuesday between Al-Butahif tribesmen from the eastern Marib province and the Belhareth from adjacent Shabwa province, the sources told AFP.

The two tribes are locked in a dispute over the ownership of a desert area between both provinces, and which they believe to be rich in oil.

Six Al-Butahif members and nine Belhareth were killed in the clashes during which both light and medium weapons were used, the sources said.

There are millions of firearms in the deeply tribal Arabian Peninsula country, with an estimated average of three weapons per person.

Yemen security forces lose 374 troops in first six months

Yemeni security forces lost 374 personnel fighting al-Qaeda, northern rebels and southern separatists as well as in targeted assassinations during the first half of 2014, according to an AFP toll.

The tally, compiled from official and other sources, shows the army paid the heaviest price for unrest in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation.

It lost 211 troops, among them 12 officers, between 1 January and 30 June, with 95 wounded.

Special forces under interior ministry command lost 94 policemen, including seven officers, and 31 wounded.

Thirty-four other policemen, among them 18 officers, were murdered by gunmen on motorcycles. Ten others were wounded in similar attacks, usually blamed by officials on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

AQAP has never admitted being behind such attacks.

During the same period, 17 intelligence officers were killed and one was wounded in hit-and-run attacks by gunmen on motorbikes, mostly in Sanaa and in restive southern provinces.

In December, Yemen enforced a temporary ban on motorbikes in the capital to try to prevent attacks as politicians engaged in a national dialogue.

Twelve members of the military police have also been killed and 16 wounded over the past six months.

Three Air Force personnel were killed, two of them officers, and the presidential guard lost three men in clashes with al-Qaeda suspects in Sanaa.

Yemeni security forces launched an offensive late April against AQAP in the south and are also engaged in on-off clashes with Shiite Huthi rebels in the north.

They have also come under attack from southern separatists demanding independence for former south Yemen.