Eight protesters shot dead by Houthi gunmen in southern Yemen

Eight protesters were shot dead and dozens wounded when Houthi gunmen opened fire to disperse thousands of protesters in Yemen's southern province of Taiz on Tuesday, a medical official told Xinhua.

According to a medical source inside the Ibn Sina public hospital, there are eight bodies of the protesters and dozens injured were brought for treatment.

"Houthi gunmen wearing security uniforms opened fire at Taiz university students who were organizing huge public crowds in the city," witnesses said.

"The protesters were chanting anti-Houthi slogans and demanded militia to leave the province," said Ali Gradi, a youth activist, in Taiz city, the provincial capital of Taiz province.

Meanwhile, fierce armed clashes took place between tribal militia and the Houthi gunmen in the southern province of Al-Dhalea.

Local sources said that several people were wounded from both sides, without giving an exact number of casualties.

The Shiite Houthi militants took control over the local government headquarters and a number of state institutions in al-Dhalea province.

The Houthi group have deployed thousands of fighters to Taiz city, the country's third largest city, and mobilized forces to the border with the neighboring southern Lahj province where pro-president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi troops have large presence.

On Monday, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi called for a mass military mobilization to restore security in the south, accusing Hadi and the Gulf countries of destabilizing the country.

The situation is stalemated and tension raises fears that the country will witness an all-out war between the north and the south.

Hadi fled to Aden, the country's second biggest city on the south of Lahj province, in late February after weeks of house arrest by the Houthi group in the capital Sanaa, and stepped up confrontations with the Houthis who took over control of the capital in September last year.

In his first public speech after he arrived in Aden, Hadi said on Saturday that the Houthi group should withdraw from Sanaa and other provinces.

He slashed on the air raid on his residence in the port city last week, calling on the army and security forces to be committed to the presidency. The actions of the Houthi militia "prompted our armed forces to deal with it," Hadi said.

Yemen has been gripped by widespread violence in the southern regions since early this month, raising fears that the impoverished country is slipping into a civil war.

U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar who has been brokering negotiations in Yemen in the past three years left for the Gulf countries on Saturday.

The impoverished country mired in political gridlock in 2011 when mass protests forced former President Ali Abdullash Saleh to step down. The three-year reconciliation talks failed to resolve the crisis but create huge power vacuum that could benefit the powerful al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other extremist groups. Endit