TAEZ, Yemen: At least 27 people were killed in Yemen today as fighting raged in southern towns between rebels and loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, local officials said.
At least four pro-Hadi fighters and six Huthi rebels were killed in dawn clashes in the town of Daleh, north of the main southern city of Aden, an official said.
Eight more rebels were killed in an ambush.
Farther east, in Loder, loyalist militiamen killed nine rebels in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, a government official in the town said.
There were also heavy clashes in Aden itself, as Saudi-led warplanes kept up strikes on rebel positions despite the coalition’s announcement on Tuesday that it was halting the bombing campaign.
Targets included the rebel-held presidential palace, which was Hadi’s last refuge before he fled to neighbouring Saudi Arabia last month, military officials said.
Coalition warplanes also bombed the rebel-held Al-Anad air base north of Aden, which housed US troops supporting a long-running drone war against Al-Qaeda before the fighting forced their withdrawal.
The persistent clashes come despite mounting calls for dialogue to end a conflict that the United Nations says has killed more than 1,000 people since late March, at least 115 of them children.--AFP