A bomb-laden vehicle parked near an arms depot exploded killing 12 Iran-backed rebels and wounding eight others in southern Yemen's Abyan province today, a local official.
The official told AFP the attack in the coastal city of Shoqra was carried out by local anti-rebel fighters, who are backed by a Saudi-led coalition pounding Shiite Huthi militia and their allies since March 26.
Anti-rebel forces are made up of pro-government fighters, Sunni tribes and southern separatists, collectively known as Popular Resistance Committees.
In the southern port city of Aden, coalition warplanes launched deadly airstrikes against rebel positions, a military official said, without giving a toll.
Aden has been the scene of deadly clashes between the rebels, who include troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Popular Resistance fighters.
A health official in the city told AFP that "nine people, among them four civilians, were killed and 132 people wounded during the past 48 hours."
The casualties were caused by "random Huthi shelling of residential areas" using mortar rounds and Katyusha rockets, as well as ongoing clashes, the spokesman of the Popular Resistance leadership in Aden, Ali al-Ahmedi, told AFP.
According to the World Health Organization, the Yemen conflict has since March killed almost 2,000 people and wounded 8,000, with hundreds of women and children among the casualties.
