At least four army troops were wounded in clashes with Republican Guards in southeastern Yemen late on Monday, a local government official said hours after scores of top army officers vowed to protect the "revolution", Xinhua reported.
Saleh Askoul told Xinhua by phone that the clashes took place at 10 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Hadramout's provincial capital city of Mukalla.
An army officer was among the wounded. The Republican Guards are an elite force of Yemen.
"The four were injured with gunshots from rifles of the Republican Guards backed by tanks," Askoul said, adding that army tanks and armored vehicles were deployed to the scene after the injured were hospitalized.
"No more clashes were taken place and we do not know more except the army tanks stationed close to the tanks of Republican Guards according to official eyewitnesses," he said.
Situation had calmed down, but some sporadic shootings could still be heard, he added.
Earlier Monday, a group of Yemeni government officials, ambassadors and senior military officers, including General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, defected from the government and joined protesters who demand resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after Friday's shootings.
Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years and faces growing protests pressing for an end to his rule, said earlier on Monday that he would stay in power and the majority of Yemenis were behind him as the defence minister pledged loyalty to him in a statement Monday.