Aden: Al Houthi shelling of residential areas in Yemen’s Aden killed at least three civilians on Sunday, as air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit suspected Al Houthi targets in the southern city, medics and witnesses said.
The Al Houthis fired Katyusha rockets and mortars at residential areas, destroying four homes, residents and military sources said.
Medics at Aden’s Al Naqib hospital told AFP that three civilians were killed and four wounded in the shelling.
Coalition air strikes hit Al Houthi positions at entrances to the city as well as at the strategic Al Anad air base in the nearby city of Lahj, military sources said.
Late on Saturday, clashes between Al Houthis and pro-government forces killed 12 fighters from both sides near the base, the sources said.
In the town of Dhalea to the north, 15 Al Houthi militiamen were killed in an overnight ambush by pro-government fighters, local military sources said, adding that two of the attackers had also died.
AFP could not confirm the tolls from the clashes from independent sources and Al Houthis rarely acknowledge their losses.
The latest violence came after the UN special envoy for Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, announced on Friday that talks in Geneva between the warring sides ended without agreement.
Al Houthi militiamen and troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh have seized control of large parts of Yemen after sweeping into the capital Sana’a last September.
The coalition launched the air strikes in March in support of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is leading a government in exile in Saudi Arabia after the Al Houthis launched an offensive on Aden.
Loyalist troops have been joined by some tribes and southern separatists in battling the Al Houthis.
More than 2,600 people have been killed in Yemen since March, according to UN figures, and almost 80 per cent of the population — 20 million people — are in need of urgent humanitarian aid.
The situation is particularly serious in Aden, where residents have complained of food and water shortages and health officials are warning of the spread of disease.
