Rebel shelling kills three civilians in Aden

Aden — Rebel shelling of residential areas in Yemen's Aden killed at least three civilians on Sunday, as air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition also hit the southern city, medics and witnesses said.

Rebels 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 rebel 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 rebels and pro-government forces killed 12 fighters from both sides near the base, the sources said.

In the town of Daleh to the north, 15 rebels 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 the rebels rarely acknowledge their losses.

The latest violence came after the UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, announced on Friday that talks in Geneva between the warring sides ended without agreement.

The rebels — including Shiite Houthi militiamen and troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh — have seized control of large parts of Yemen after taking the capital Sanaa last September.

The coalition launched the air strikes in March in support of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled a rebel advance on Aden to Saudi Arabia.

Loyalist troops have been joined by some Sunni tribes and southern separatists in battling the rebels.

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.