SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Yemeni security forces found machine guns and other weapons and ammunition hidden inside a bus in the northwest Amran province, the Interior Ministry said.

The guns and ammunition were found under some bus seats, the ministry said.

Three suspects, who had been on board the bus, had traveled from northwest Yemen's Saada province, on the border with Saudi Arabia, Yemen's official Saba News Agency reported.

The Saada province is the center of anti-government insurgency.

It is one of the few Yemeni regions inhabited by a large majority of Zaydis, a Muslim religious minority close to the Shiite sect, the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam.

The insurgency is pitting Zaydi rebels against the government.

Talks between government officials and the rebels to cement a truce in northwest Yemen began Aug. 24 in Doha, Qatar.

The rebel conflict has plagued Yemen -- the poorest country in the Arab world as well as a haven for Islamic jihadists -- since 2004.