10 Yemeni civilians injured by Houthi shelling

Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-09 04:45:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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ADEN, Yemen, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 Yemeni civilians were injured including five children when rockets fired by Houthi rebels hit a residential area in southern province of Lahj on Friday, a military official told Xinhua.

"The Houthi militants fired Katyusha rockets and struck a number of houses in Qabytah area of Lahj province, leaving 10 civilians injured including five children," the local military official said on condition of anonymity.

Most of the injured civilians were transferred by ambulances to the neighboring southern province of Aden to receive treatment, the source said.

Houses and civilians in border areas located between Taiz and Lahj province are repeatedly targeted with rockets and mortar shells due to the continuous fighting there, according to local residents.

Meanwhile, other sources said that the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces exchanged heavy artillery shelling with the Houthi rebels on the outskirts of Lahj province.

The pro-Houthi forces keep trying to make ground advances towards the government-controlled province of Lahj, where key strategic army camps are located.

Fighting and intensified airstrikes on Houthi-controlled positions continued Friday across many areas in the war-torn Arab country particularly in the northern provinces

Yemen's internationally-backed government, allied with the Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels over control of the country for more than two years .

The coalition began a military air campaign in March 2015 to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to the power.

The coalition also imposed air and sea blockade to prevent weapons from reaching Houthis, who had invaded the capital Sanaa militarily and seized most of the northern Yemeni provinces.

UN statistics show more than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the coalition intervened in the Yemeni civil war that also displaced around three million.

The impoverished Arab country is also suffering the world's largest cholera epidemic since April, with about 5,000 cases reported every day.

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