Aden(ANN) At least 120 people have been killed in the Yemeni port city of Aden as fighting rages between Houthi fighters and local supporters of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, rescue workers and residents said.
The dead included at least 40 Yemeni civilians who were trying to flee heavy fighting in Aden on Wednesday when the Houthi fighters fired shells at their boat, rescue workers told Reuters news agency.
The civilians were among some 50 people who were on the boat as it left the al-Tawahi district of Aden and headed towards safer areas in al-Buraiqa in the west.
Residents and local fighters said 40 other people, including a senior army officer, had been killed in fighting overnight in other parts of Aden, including an estimated 30 Houthi fighters and 10 local gunmen.
They said Arab coalition air strikes had helped the local fighters beat back a Houthi offensive on al-Tawahi, knocking out three tanks.
But Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, who is reporting from Saudi Arabia, said that as of Wednesday evening, al-Tawahi has fallen into the control of the Houthis.
Among those killed overnight was Brigadier General Ali Nasser Hadi, the residents said. President Hadi later appointed Brigadier General Saif al-Baqri to replace him.
Earlier, in the day, the coalition carried out more than 30 air strikes in northern Yemen, a day after rockets were fired into the Saudi’s border town of Najran.
Late on Wednesday, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen accused the Houthis of committing “genocide” and called on the international community to file charges against the armed group.
Later on Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with talks likely to focus on the situation in Yemen.
The Arab coalition began air strikes in Yemen on March 26 against Iran-allied Houthi fighters, backed by forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who seized control of parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for the lull in the fighting, while expressing his concern about the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“The situation is getting more dire by the day and we are concerned about that,” Kerry told a news conference during a visit to Djibouti, the first secretary of state to visit the Horn of Africa nation.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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