Almost 100 killed by rebel shelling in Yemen
CAIRO -- The head of an international aid group says the number of causalities in Yemen from the Shiite rebel shelling of a town near the southern port city of Aden has risen to almost 100 people killed.
Hassan Boucenine of the Geneva-based Medicins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, gave the new toll on Monday. He says the number of wounded is now at 200.
Boucenine told The Associated Press that the victims are mostly civilians and that MSF fears "attacks on civilians will continue."
Shiites rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies started shelled the town of Dar Saad on Sunday after losing control of some of Aden's neighborhoods.
Aden, the scene of some of the war's fiercest ground battles, saw Saudi-backed troops and fighters seize from the Houthis some of its neighborhoods and its international airport last week. Sunday's shelling in Dar Saad appeared to be a way to both punish those resisting the Houthis, as well as halt the advance of their opponents.
The rebels had vowed to retaliate after losing ground in Aden. The rebels now are largely based in Aden's western neighborhood of Tawahi, as well as bases east of Aden and in Lahj province, north of the city. Saudi-backed fighters also are advancing on a military air base in Lahj province.
Sunday night, anti-Houthi forces linked up in Tawahi from the north and south at the state television building, a Yemeni military official said. He claimed anti-Houthi forces fully controlled the area and said they were searching residences for rebels, some of whom had fled to nearby mountains.
The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is now based in Saudi Arabia.
The rebels seized Sanaa in September. Fierce fighting in Aden broke in March, sparking the Saudi-led airstrikes. More than 3,000 people have been killed since, including more than 1,400 civilians, according to United Nations agencies.
The conflict has left 20 million Yemenis without access to safe drinking water and uprooted more than 1 million people from their homes, the U.N. has said.