Invited to Saudi Arabia for talks, dozens of Yemeni separatist officials went incommunicado on Wednesday as the conflict in their country took a sharp twist.

Hours after its leader's unexplained absence, the Southern Transitional Council said he was in Aden overseeing military and security operations.

Yemen is threatening to fracture even further, exposing a growing rift between Middle East powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Flights in and out of Yemen had been restricted following a flare-up of violence between rival armed factions. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Aden and adjacent areas are currently controlled by the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC). The leader of the STC had been residing in the palace, but his current whereabouts are unknown.

Yemen’s separatist movement has announced a constitution for an independent nation in the south and demanded other factions in the war-torn country accept the move.

Yemen's separatist movement on Friday announced a constitution for an independent nation in the south and demanded other factions in the war-torn country accept the move in an escalation of a confrontation that has pitted Gulf powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against each other.

Saudi state media say forces of Presidential Leadership Council headed to Aden, Yemen’s temporary capital - Anadolu Ajansı