At least five people were killed and eight others injured when pro-government militia attacked al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants on Thursday in southern Yemen. The fighting broke out in the village of al-Qafr in the southern province of Abyan, a military source said on Friday. The two groups have regularly attacked each other since the pro-government Popular Committees were set up as a volunteer force against militants who exploited the 2011 political turmoil to seize territory and impose Islamic Sharia. Yemen is also fighting a separatist movement in the south and faces a potential challenge from Shiite Muslim rebels, known as Houthis, in the north.