Gunmen shot dead two Yemeni soldiers Wednesday in the main southern city of Aden, a police official said, as thousands rallied there to call for secession from the north. “The gunmen opened fire on two soldiers in plain clothes near the qat (mild narcotic) market in the neighbourhood of Khor Maksar, killing one and seriously wounding another,” who later died of his injuries, a police official told AFP. The attack took place as thousands of Yemenis rallied in Aden to call for secession from the north as they commemorated the day the formerly independent south won freedom from Britain.
“The people want to liberate the south,” the protesters chanted in the city which served as the capital of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen during its 23 years of independence. Late on Tuesday, a similar crowd had gathered in the city brandishing PDRY flags, as well as portraits of Ali Salem al-Baid, who served as the last president of an independent south before union with the north in 1990 and who now lives in exile.
“No union no federation, out out occupation,” they chanted as fireworks lit the sky, an AFP correspondent reported. Baid, who now heads the radical wing of the Southern Movement which calls for renewed secession, released a statement saying he remains determined to “continue the struggle until we achieve our national aspirations for independence.” He urged other states to “support the rights of southerners to determine their own fate.”