Rebel fire killed 20 civilians in Yemen's Aden

Aden

Rebel fire on a residential district of Yemen's second city Aden killed at least 20 civilians Wednesday as loyalist forces in central city Taez launched a manhunt for 1,200 escaped prisoners.

Both cities have seen heavy fighting as loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi battle to fight back Huthi Shiite rebels with the support of a Saudi-led bombing campaign launched in March.

Aden was Hadi's last refuge before he fled into exile in neighbouring Saudi Arabia in March and his loyalists have been battling to defend it against the rebels and renegade troops.

The Huthis and their allies pounded the loyalist-held Al-Mansura district with 15 Katyusha rockets, loyalist forces spokesman Ali al-Ahmadi said.The rocket fire began before dawn when the streets were busy ahead of the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, Ahmadi said.

A fresh salvo of rockets later in the morning hit mourners burying some of the dead from the earlier fire, the spokesman and witnesses said. Medics said 41 people were also wounded, many of them seriously.

During the night, rebel positions in the nearby neighbourhoods of Dar Saad and Khor Maksar had been hit by a series of Saudi-led air strikes, residents said. A coalition strike in neighbouring Lahj province killed 13 rebels, a local official told AFP.

The air war has come under mounting international criticism. On Monday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for an investigation after air strikes hit the UN Development Programme compound in Aden, wounding a guard and causing serious damage.

On Tuesday Human Rights Watch said that strikes on the rebel stronghold of Saada in Yemen's northern mountains had destroyed houses, markets and a school, in what could amount to war crimes.

"The coalition's aerial bombing of Saada killed dozens of civilians, devastating entire families," said HRW Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson. "These attacks appear to be serious laws of war violations that need to be properly investigated."