1st LD Writethru: UN Security Council slams airstrikes on Yemen's second biggest city

The UN Security Council strongly condemned the airstrikes against the Presidential Palace in Aden, Yemen's second biggest city, and attacks at Aden International Airport, urging "all sides to refrain from any further use of military force, any offensive military actions and other uses of violence."

"The members of the Security Council underlined that President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi is the legitimate authority based on election results and the terms of the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and Implementation Mechanism," said a statement issued to the press here by the 15-nation UN body. "The members of the Security Council called for all parties in Yemen to adhere to resolving their differences through dialogue and consultation, reject acts of violence to achieve political goals, and refrain from provocation and all unilateral actions to undermine the political transition."

The Yemeni president has been forced to flee his presidential palace after two fighter planes targeted his residence in Aden, a southern city in the country, Thursday, reports said.

The aircraft dropped a bomb or fired a missile at the compound in al-Maasheeq district of the southern port city, where Hadi is based, the official said, in a sharp escalation of Yemen's months- long armed turmoil.

Meanwhile, the international airport was attacked. During the hours-long fighting, more than a 100 passengers who had boarded a Yemenia aircraft flight to Cairo, were ordered off a plane as machine gun fire rang out and explosions shook the terminal building.

At least two shells hit the airport's grounds, with at least 13 people killed and 13 others wounded, the reports said.

Sporadic clashes also erupted throughout Aden. Sounds of explosions periodically shook the city, and streets were largely deserted as residents hid in homes.

Tensions have been building in Aden for days. Hadi loyalists dominate the city, but two army units are loyal to Saqqaf, a pro- Saleh commander, who leads a force of 3,000 special forces police. Hadi unsuccessfully tried to remove al-Saqqaf from his post earlier this month, prompting some clashes.

"The members of the Security Council called on all parties to engage in good faith and accelerate inclusive United Nations- brokered negotiations to continue the political transition in order to reach a consensus solution in accordance with the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism, the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue conference, and the Peace and National Partnership Agreement and its security annex, and to implement it," the council statement said.

Yemen is the base of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a powerful offshoot of the jihadist militant group that has carried out similar suicide attacks on Houthi supporters.

The terrorist group Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIL or ISIS, however, is also gaining ground in the country. Endite