(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Yemeni rebels said yesterday that they shot down a fighter jet as Saudi-led coalition air strikes intensified a day ahead of a hoped-for five-day humanitarian truce.
Morocco announced that one of its warplanes taking part in operations against the rebels was missing along with its pilot, and that a search was under way.
Coalition air strikes hit Iran-backed rebels in their northern stronghold of Saada and in Sana'a, where they sparked powerful explosions at an arms depot that shook the city.
Officials said the twin strikes in Sana'a left five people dead and 20 wounded, while witnesses said huge explosions sent artillery pieces flying, with one crashing onto a residential building.
Houthi rebel television said tribesmen shot down a coalition aircraft in the Wadi Nushur area of Saada, and broadcast pictures of them celebrating around the wreckage of a plane bearing a Moroccan flag.
Moroccan state media said contact was lost with the F-16 late on Sunday afternoon, and "a second plane flying in formation was not able to see whether the pilot ejected". The Houthis said on television that there were "more than 20 raids since the morning" by coalition aircraft across Saada.
The coalition has declared the entire rebel stronghold of Saada province to be a military target after Houthi bombardment of Saudi towns across the border caused several deaths.
Aid agencies say some 70,000 civilians have fled the province, but that many more remain trapped by the bombardment because of a lack of fuel for transport.
Seven consecutive air strikes hit rebel positions in the southern province of Shabwa, residents said. Fighting intensified in Taez, where a Red Crescent official said rebel mortar fire on residential areas killed six civilians, including three women and a child. Residents reported three hours of continuous air raids on the city.
In Aden, at least 19 people were killed and 93 were wounded, including women and children, in fighting on Sunday between rebels and supporters of exiled President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
Elsewhere, a Pakistani and a Saudi were killed when the Saudi border area came under renewed bombardment from Yemen, state media said.
The latest violence comes ahead of a five-day truce Riyadh has offered to start from 11pm (2000 GMT) today to enable aid deliveries. It would be the first pause in air raids since the coalition campaign began on March 26. Saudi Arabia has stressed the offer is conditional on the rebels reciprocating and not exploiting the ceasefire for military advantage.
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