45 people killed in fighting in Yemen's Aden

Deadly battles broke out on Sunday between the Shiite Houthi group and Gulf-backed fighters in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, in which 45 people were killed and about 170 others wounded, health officials said, two days after the exiled government announced "liberation" of the city.

A senior health official told Xinhua reporter that 45 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 170 others wounded during the shelling on the residential neighborhoods in Daar Saad district in northern Aden.

Houthi militia in neighboring Lahj province started on Sunday morning military operations in Aden's northern entrance, vowing to retake the strategic city from the pro-government fighters who are supported by the Saudi-led coalition forces, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Houthi group has not commented on its fresh attacks.

Yemen's exiled government announced on Friday that Saudi-backed fighters have taken full control of the southern port city of Aden after days of battles with the Shiite Houthi militia.

"We congratulate all our people at home and abroad for what has been achieved during the last two days... the government announces the liberation of Aden on July 17," Vice President Khaled Bahah said on his official Facebook page.

"It is the first step to liberate the whole country," he added.

However, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said Saturday that "no progress was made" by the Gulf-backed fighters.

Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was ousted by the Shiite Houthi group who had controlled the capital Sanaa since September. He fled to Aden, the temporary capital as he declared, in late February after weeks of house arrest, and has been taking refuge with his cabinet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

The Saudi-led coalition forces have been bombarding the Houthis and its ally Yemen's ex-Presdient Ali Abdullash Saleh since March 26, aiming to reinstate Hadi.

Security sources told Xinhua that thousands of soldiers who were trained in Gulf countries launched attacks in the past few days, with support of warplanes and warships of the Saudi-led coalition, against the Houthis in Aden.

They managed to seize the Aden international airport and Tawahi district where Hadi's presidential palace and intelligence headquarters locate on Thursday, sources said.

A senior government official in Aden told Xinhua on Thursday night that 90 percent of Aden is in the hand of Saudi-backed fighters.

After more than three months of airstrikes and civil war, humanitarian disaster emerged in Yemen as about 80 percent of its 24 million population are in need of aid. More than 3,000 people have been killed and more than one million displaced.

The United Nations announced a ceasefire last week that was expected to last through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on July 17 to allow delivery of aid to Yemeni cities desperately short of food, medicine and other necessities. However, no warring parties were abided by the truce. Endit