(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-03 10:35

SAN'A, Yemen -- Riot police opened fire on a demonstration by retired officers and soldiers, killing two people and wounding more than 20 on the second day of protests demanding the right to rejoin the army, the head of an opposition party said.

The Interior Ministry said civilians opened fire on the demonstrators, killing one person and wounding five others. The ministry identified the protestors as "outlaw rioters" and said several people were arrested.

The incident followed rallies by thousands in several southern cities on Saturday, which underlined the increasing tensions between northern and southern Yemen 13 years after a civil war. The protesters were largely members of the army of south Yemen who were ousted after being defeated by northern forces.

Demonstrations by disaffected veterans first erupted in early August, when thousands marched through the port city of Aden and clashed with police. One person was reportedly killed and some 1,000 were arrested.

Protesters have complained that the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is ignoring discrimination at the hands of the northern-dominated leadership.

North and South Yemen were united in 1990, with Saleh - who had been the north's president - remaining in his post. In 1994, rebels announced the secession of the south, and battled northern forces for several months in a civil war that ended in their defeat.

Yemen was a haven for Islamists from across the Arab world during the 1990s, but after the September 11 attacks, it declared support for the US campaign against terrorism.