Embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has accused Qatar of a "conspiracy" and threatened to pull out of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) transition deal to end the violence in Yemen.

Al Qaeda gunmen killed two soldiers and wounded three others on Wednesday in Yemen's restive Southern province of Abyan, a security official told AFP.

Yemeni opposition called for mass protests on Wednesday after deadly confrontations with the police, while talks between Gulf mediators and representatives of Yemen’s embattled President appeared to have made no progress.

Yemeni police killed one person and wounded several others when they opened fire on anti-regime demonstrators marching in the city of Taez on Tuesday, a medic and witnesses said.

Yemen's influential tribal and religious chiefs, siding with a 10-week-old uprising, have urged security forces to defect and called for the "immediate" ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Iraqi authorities are interrogating six members of an Iranian exile group who were arrested during deadly clashes with the Iraqi Army, police said on Monday.

Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday welcomed Gulf "efforts" to end his country's political crisis, saying he was ready for a "peaceful" transfer of power in a constitutional way, according to a statement from his office.