Clashes, strikes kill 21 in Yemen’s Aden

Aden: Saudi-led air strikes and clashes in Yemen´s second city of Aden killed 13 Huthi rebels and eight pro-government fighters Friday, military sources said.

War planes struck Huthi positions in the north of the port city, killing six fighters, after fighting killed seven rebels and eight soldiers loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, the sources said.

The clashes followed Huthi advances in west Aden, backed by renegade troops, that saw the rebels take control of a military base late Thursday.

Fighting continued Friday around the base, according to military sources.

Rebel shelling of several residential neighbourhoods overnight killed at least five people, including a child, city health chief Al-Khader Laswar told AFP.

Another 89 civilians were wounded.

In neighbouring Abyan province, five rebels were killed in an ambush and a further eight were killed in a similar incident in Taez, Yemen´s third city, according to witnesses.

War planes struck several Huthi positions in their northern stronghold province of Saada, witnesses said, as well as the residence of a senior Huthi official in Sanaa.

The jets also struck Huthis in the northern Hajja province, which borders Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against rebels in Yemen in March, after the Huthis seized control of much of the country and encroached on Aden, where Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing to Riyadh.

Peace talks last month in Geneva between representatives of the exiled government and the Huthis failed to settle the deadlock.

More than 2,600 people have been killed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country since March, according to UN figures.