SANAA, Yemen, April 1 (UPI) -- The Yemeni Interior Ministry denied reports that dozens of detainees escaped from prison following an explosion in southern Yemen.
Al-Jazeera and several other media outlets reported Thursday that up to 40 prisoners escaped following a bombing at a prison in the southern Yemeni city of Daleh.
Security sources said a skirmish erupted between police and prisoners linked to the separatist movement creating unrest in the south of Yemen.
Sources in the Yemeni Interior Ministry told the official Saba news agency, however, that the media reports were unfounded.
Saba said six "subversive elements" were wounded in an explosion at the prison and 20 inmates were recaptured Thursday morning by security forces.
Yemen is struggling to contain a violent separatist movement in the south of the country.
Yemeni authorities March 10 ordered cellphone companies to cut service in parts of the south.
The government said it was surrounding the southern provinces of Lahj and Dhale to control the secessionist movement.
North and south Yemen united in 1990, though a 1994 civil war unsettled unification.
