Sana'a - A state security court in Sana'a began the trial of 13 men on Monday charged with carrying out sabotage acts and bombing attacks on police stations in southern Yemen.

Only six members of the group were present at the courtroom during the first hearing. The other seven are being tried in absentia.

The defendants were charged with "forming an armed gang to carry out sabotage acts and bombing police stations and government installations in Abyan province."

The accused who were present, aged between 18 and 26, denied the charges and asked the court to appoint a lawyer to defend them.

Prosecutors told the court the men were arrested during a police clampdown on militant groups in the Ja'ar town of Abyan, around 60 kilometres east of the southern port city of Aden.

Ja'ar is known as a stronghold of Jihadi groups in Yemen, which sits on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. (dpa)