ADEN, Yemen, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's pro-government forces declared on Saturday that armed confrontations with the Houthi rebels occurred in the southwestern province of Taiz, leaving five soldiers and six rebels killed.
The pro-government military forces said in a press statement that "intense armed confrontations broke out between the army soldiers and the Houthi attackers in the vicinity of the Republican Palace located east of Taiz."
The armed confrontations resulted in the killing of six pro-government army soldiers and five members of the Houthi militia, including a field commander of the rebel group, the statement said.
The pro-government forces accuse the Iranian-backed Houthis of pushing the situation in Taiz for military escalation through intensifying their armed attacks.
The pro-Houthi media outlets and their official television network made no comment on the government's claim about Taiz.
On Friday, at least five Yemeni civilians were killed during a military shelling carried out by the Houthi rebels against a densely populated neighborhood in the country's city of Taiz.
The city center of Taiz is currently under the control of the Yemeni government, while the outskirts of the city and areas in the countryside of the province are still witnessing armed confrontations between pro-government forces and the Houthi rebels.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa.
