(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Dozens of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in fighting and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's rebel-held third city Taez, seen as the gateway to recapturing the capital.
Backed by the coalition, loyalists of exiled President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi have recently made sweeping advances against the Iran-backed Shia rebels known as Houthis.
They retook the southern port and second city Aden last month, and have seized four additional southern provinces in their advance towards Taez, some 330 kilometres south of Sana'a.
But as combat raged in Taez, the loyalists were hit by a different foe in Aden. Al Qaeda fighters suspected of having entered the city several weeks ago were blamed for blowing up a building used by the secret police.
They were also said to have taken up positions in several strategic parts of the Tawahi district, where the bombing took place.
Rima Kamal, spokeswoman in Yemen for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said violence in Taez Friday had killed 80 people.
"My colleague was told that by noon yesterday, there were 50 killed; in the evening it went up to 80. These are figures we are receiving from various sides," she told AFP.
Doctors Without Borders said Friday that 65 civilians had been killed and several wounded in bombing runs in Taez's Salah neighbourhood.
The rebel-controlled Saba news agency said the raids had killed 63 civilians and wounded 50.
Taez has been the scene of fighting for months, but intensified in mid-August as the loyalists pushed north after consolidating gains in the south.
Kamal said yesterday that "civilians are suffering on multiple fronts. There was an overwhelming number of civilians killed yesterday."
She said shelling and clashes were ongoing, with residents saying fighting around a presidential palace in Taez had killed three civilians.
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