2009-05-13 15:46:07 -

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - Yemeni police stormed the office of the country's leading daily newspaper on Wednesday, opening fire and wounding three workers as the government escalated its crackdown on a media it accused of stoking unrest in the south.
Hesham Bashrahel, editor-in-chief of al-Ayyam daily, said police surrounded the two-story building housing his newspaper office. They also formed a cordon around his nearby home, he said.
The move early Wednesday follows a concerted government crackdown on the press, which officials said had stoked unrest in the south and fueled sometimes violent protests by residents there demanding separation from the north. The southerners have accused the government of neglect and discrimination.
It also comes a day after the government reached a cease-fire agreement with southern leaders, an apparently conciliatory gesture amid pressure on President Ali Abdullah Saleh by neighboring Arab governments. A Mediating committee led by former Yemeni government minister Abdel Qader Helal met with leaders of southerners' movement, and agreed on the withdrawal of army troops stationed in southern cities.
However, Nasser al-Khobji, a leading southern movement figure, said that it is not the end of their uprising.
«Our movement is peaceful. We will continue our peaceful protests until our political demands are met,» al-Khobji said, referring to a call for a power-sharing agreement between the north and south, and equal distribution of wealth.
A security official confirmed authorities were sent to arrest Bashrahel, but declined to comment on the reported use of force. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the press.
Al-Ayyam is among eight Yemeni publications whose printing was suspended last week.
The south, a particularly impoverished region in one of the poorer Arab nations, has long been a source of unrest for the government.
The move recent wave of protests in the area were at the end of April, and clashes between residents and security forces left 14 civilians and government troops dead.
The protests marked the anniversary of a southern separatist uprising in 1994 that was crushed by government troops. North and South Yemen first merged in 1990.
In addition to the suspension of publications, Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council _ a body affiliated to justice ministry _ ordered establishment of special tribunal for journalists, a move that further fueled media concerns.
Yemeni Justice Minister Ghazi al-Aghbari, told reporters that the new court will tackle any case related to the press in order to ensure that any cases related to the press are dealt with by a single court that can render «swift trials and verdicts.

Al-Aghbari's remarks did little to allay journalists' worries.
«Its very suspicious because it took only two days for the court to come into existence while the government has been acting like a turtle when comes to executing any decisions or implementing projects,» said Gamal Anam, the head of the Press Syndicate's freedom committee.
The government, which has been combating militants, has little to no control of many part of the country.
Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, and has been blamed for several attacks 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.