At least 40 southern separatists have been released from jail in the city of Aden, a provincial security official told reporters on Tuesday.

The separatist activists were released late Monday following a period of more than a month in Al-Mansura Jail in Aden province, according to the same sources.

All the released were arrested in Radfan of Lahj province for their involvement in riots and violent protests against the national unity, they said. The release came upon Interior Ministry directives.

Apparently s a dangerous development had doubled the problem as armed separatists began to establish their own checkpoints for terrorizing passengers along the safest highways in some of the southern provinces.

Earlier this week, an armed separatist snatched an army officer en-route from Aden to Sana'a in an established checkpoint in the southern province of Lahj to press for the release of a number of their activists.