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ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 18-- Following an armed attack launched by pro-secession southern forces against a military academy in Aden City on Saturday, tension is feared to escalate between Yemen's government forces and anti-government military units in the country's southern part. Earlier in the day, forces loyal to the pro-secession Southern Transitional Council (STC) launched an armed attack targeting a graduation ceremony at a military academy in Aden, in protest of raising the country's national flag at the academy despite SCT's warning. Residents told Xinhua that the anti-unity forces loyal to the STC rained the military academy buildings with a barrage of heavy gunfire and cancelled the ceremony using violence. The soldiers in charge of protecting the military academy failed to resist the attacking forces, leaving at least one student killed and four others injured in a two-hour gunfight, according to Aden-based residents near the scene. Hours after the attack, pro-secession southern people staged a demonstration in Aden's district of Buraiga to condemn the raising of Yemen's national flag in their city. Some of the protesters burned tires and blocked a bridge and other main roads leading to the military academy headquarters in Buraiga. Yemeni high-ranking government officials, including the interior minister, who were planning to attend the graduation ceremony to deliver speeches during this occasion, failed to reach the academy because of the public riot. | 
