ADEN. June 5: Northern Yemeni planes today bombed Aden’s oil refinery, setting a storage tank on fire, a Sou thern military statement said, reports Reuter.

Southern anti-aircraft fire shot down one of the raiding planes, it said.

The refinery, located In the little Aden suburb about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the centre of the secessionist cap! tai. has been a constant target on Northern planes in the war which started on May.

Refinery officials put its current production at 70.000 barrels per day (BPD). It was producing about 110.000 BPD at the start of the war.

AFP adds: Yemen's civil war will drag on for 100 years if the international community recognises the breakaway Southern state, a Northern Yemeni diplomat warned today.

Chaleb All Jamil. Yemen's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told the Kuwaiti daily As-Seyassa: "If the Arabs and the world want Yemenis to continue slaughtering each other for 100 years, they only have to recognise the secession" of the self-declared Yemen Democratic Republic.

"We will then be two countries and for decades we'll will devote ourselves to war. tn- sh id of development ", he said, adding both sides would use oil revenues to buy arms. Southern leaders declared the independent republic on May 21. but it has yet to be officially recognised by any coun try.

Yemen's affairs, which are strictly local, should not have been brought before the Security Council, he said.

Meanwhile Southern Yemeni forces have recaptured a village on the main road to Aden seized by Northern troops earlier this week, wit nesses said today.

Piles of bodies lay buried under thin layers of earth In Saber, the witnesses said.

Southern troops patrolled Saber village and shell-ravaged surroundings 18 kilometres 412 miles) north of Aden after taking control In what appeared to have been fierce fighting.

It was not immediately clear when the southerners had moved in and the atmosphere was tense, the witnesses said. Sporadic Northern, tank-cannon fire landed nearby.

A small Northern advance party entered the village two days ago after slipping behind Southern defence lines about 35 km (25 miles) north of the port city.