Huge Blasts Outside Sanaa After Coalition Air Raids

Sanaa: Huge explosions rocked the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Friday after Saudi-led air strikes against positions held by Houthi Shiite rebels and their allies, residents said.

In southern Yemen, at least 19 fighters were killed in air strikes and in clashes on the ground, security sources said.

"It was a morning of terror," a resident of a southern suburb of Sanaa told AFP after a string of raids on military bases in the Dhabwa and Rimat Hamid areas.

In north Sanaa, coalition warplanes attacked a stadium and a camp of the Republican Guards loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has sided with the Houthis.

Other targets included another camp, in Samaa, and Dalaimi air base, near the capital's international airport, witnesses said.

Residents said the coalition also struck Houthi positions in Marib province, to the east of Sanaa, but no immediate casualty tolls were available for any of the raids.

Eight Houthis were killed in air raids on Aden, while another eight died in street fighting in the southern port city against pro-Hadi fighters, who also lost three men.

Across the border in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi civilian was killed and three people wounded in shelling of Najran province from northern Yemen, state television said.

The coalition has waged an air campaign against the Houthis since March 26 in an effort to restore the authority of President Abedrabbo Mansour al-Hadi, who has fled to Riyadh with members of his government.

A United Nations conference to relaunch political talks on Yemen is to open in Geneva next week, despite uncertainty over who will attend.