Sana’a - (AFP)

Hundreds of Yemenis demonstrated on Thursday in the town of Daleh against an army siege of a village in the southern province seeking to capture separatists, witnesses said.

Carrying flags of the formerly independent south along with pictures of prominent exiled southern leader Ali Salem al-Baid, they demanded the army lift the siege it has imposed in Daleh's Jihaf region, where separatist militants have been surrounding a military position for three days.

Yemeni security forces have cut off two roads to Jihaf, north of Daleh, where the army has failed to flush out the separatists, who have been attacking its positions, according to local officials.

The body of a soldier was found near the army's position on Thursday, the officials said, bringing to four the number of soldiers killed in clashes since Tuesday.

Daleh province has been the focus of separatist unrest in south Yemen, which was independent from the British withdrawal in 1967 until it united with the north in 1990. The south seceded in 1994, sparking a short civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.

Southerners, who complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the allocation of resources, hold frequent protests, which periodically result in clashes.