Heavy air raids pound Yemen capital after rebel attack

Sanaa

A Saudi-led coalition pounded the rebel-held Yemeni capital with air strikes on Sunday in retaliation for the killing of 60 Gulf soldiers in a rebel missile attack.

The United Arab Emirates had pledged to quickly avenge its heaviest ever military loss after 45 of its soldiers were killed in Friday's strike, along with 10 Saudis and five Bahrainis as well as four Yemeni troops.

Sunday's air raids, coinciding with funerals in the Emirates, pounded positions of the rebels and renegade troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Coalition warplanes hit military bases on the capital's Nahdain and Fajj Attan hills and the neighbouring presidential complex, south of Sanaa, as well as a special forces headquarters.

Also targeted were Huthi positions in the northern areas of Sufan and Al Nahda, forcing scores of residents to flee, and rebel positions near the Saudi and Emirati embassies, witnesses said.

Sunday's bombardment was one of the heaviest of the six-month-old air campaign.

"The first strike after dawn prayers shook our house," said Sadeq al Juhayfi, a resident of Al Haffa, southeast of Sanaa, where a military base was targeted.

Normally bustling areas of the city remained empty with most shops shuttered.