Saudi-led warplanes hit weapons stores across Yemen's capital

Warplanes of Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels bombed weapons depots in several military locations across Yemen's capital Sanaa on Thursday, residents and witnesses said, as explosions rocked the city from dawn until noon.

The raids targeted Houthi rebel-controlled First Armored Brigade, Maintenance Military Camp and Radio Military Camp in al-Hassaba neighborhood in downtown Sanaa, as well as al-Hafa Military Camp in southeast the capital.

Residents said the air attacks resulted in non-stop explosions from weapons caches in those targeted military camps. The explosions forced dozens of families to flee their houses over fears of random exploded missiles. So far, there were no reports of casualties.

Overnight air strikes also targeted houses of Houthi leaders and officials loyal to Houthi-allied former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Hadda area south of Sanaa.

Medics said a woman was killed and 20 others, mostly children, were wounded overnight from shrapnel of the planes' missiles and flying glasses of houses' windows that violently broke due to the huge pressure caused by the explosions of the missiles.

On Wednesday, witnesses said the coalition's war planes launched a series of attacks against a ballistic rocket launcher hidden inside a police academy in al-Sabeen quarter south of Sanaa. Medics said 10 residents were killed and several houses around the academy location were badly damaged.

Meanwhile, pro-government troops backed by coalition's jets continued advancing Thursday against the Shiite Houthi group and allied forces loyal to former President Saleh in the oil-producing Marib province, some 173 km east the capital Sanaa. Military sources there said ongoing battles Thursday morning have left at least 20 rebels dead.

There was no comment from Houthi group on the casualty report.

The Saudi-led coalition has increased air attacks against the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces loyal to Saleh in the capital Sanaa and other major northern cities since Friday.

The intensified air raids came in the wake of killing over 60 coalition's soldiers, mostly from the United Arab Emirates, when Houthi rocket fire hit a weapons store at a military camp used by the coalition and pro-government forces in Marib last Friday.

The Saudi-led coalition made up of nine Arab Gulf states to support Yemen's "legitimate" government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition has been air striking on a daily basis the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group across Yemen since March 26, when Yemeni President Hadi fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to take refuge.

The coalition said its intervention aims to restore Hadi's authority in the country.

The Shiite armed group seized much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa last September, and ousted Hadi and his government.

The group said it was a revolution against corrupt officials loyal to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Pro-government forces, backed by elite troops and armored vehicles from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have recaptured five southern provinces including the southern city port of Aden after a series of ground offensives against the rebels since July. Endit