Sanaa (xn) - Three policemen were killed and another five wounded in clashes between security forces and armed tribesmen in Yemen's northeastern province of Marib, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. The accident took place when 10 security vehicle patrols clashed with armed tribesmen after the latter hijacked a gas tanker and cut off the main highway linking the capital Sanaa, where a key oil and gas installation is the main supplier to Sanaa and other provinces, said the ministry.

"A group of al-Zaydi Jaham tribesmen in Marib's district of Sirwah opened fire on the vehicle patrols, leaving three security soldiers dead and wounding five others," said the ministry in its website without telling any casualties of the tribesmen. It said the security forces had managed to lift the tribal roadblock and free the gas tanker. In Marib, tribesmen often resort to cutting off roads and hijacking state oil and gas carriers to press the government to meet their demands or release their tribe's jailed fellows.