Monday's attack was the latest in a recent flare-up of violence in Yemen's south where separatist sentiment is mounting against the country's weak central government, which also is grappling with an active al-Qaida presence.

North and South Yemen merged in 1990, but southerners continue to accuse the central government of marginalization and discrimination. The recent wave of protests started on April 27 — the anniversary of the 1994 southern separatist uprising that was crushed by government troops.

Yemen sent tanks and troops to the south in response to the recent protests, but opposition parties have accused the soldiers of shelling farms and houses in several provinces. In response, some armed tribesmen have attacked troops.

"Dialogue is the best way to solve the problem — not by sending troops and soldiers," said opposition leader, Yassin Said Numan.

Yasser al-Yamani, deputy governor of the southern Lahaj province, said Monday's death in the southern town of Radfan brought to seven the number of soldiers killed in the recent riots. At least two civilians were killed Saturday in the same town, and a Yemeni man was killed Sunday when a bomb exploded during clashes in the adjacent province of Dali.

Source: AP

"We are trying to contain the situation," al-Yamani told The Associated Press.

Many parts of the mountainous, desert country are largely beyond control of the central government. Al-Qaida has been blamed for several attacks in Yemen — the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden — including the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden, which killed 17 American sailors. In September, an attack on the U.S. Embassy in San'a killed 16 people.

On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy called for dialogue in Yemen to try to quell the violence in the south, saying it was concerned about reports of "increasing incidences of political violence in southern regions of Yemen."