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Saudi-led strikes kill at least 54 Yemenis, Houthi run agency says

Pro-Hadi fighters, backed by troops freshly trained and armed by Saudi Arabia, ejected the rebels from Aden in July and have since recaptured four other southern provinces.

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Though the Saudi leadership insists they are confident on taking Sanaa and the rest of the country soon, there’s been little progress in taking meaningful cities from the Houthis since the capture of Aden during a false ceasefire, and the war may well end up with Yemen divided along these lines long term.

Several of Mr Bahah’s ministers had already returned to Aden.

Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the move signalled the re-establishment of an administration on home soil following operation from exile.

The ministers and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi had fled Yemen earlier this year in the face of an advance by Shiite rebels knows as Houthis who captured the country’s capital, Sanaa, last September.

The coalition is now pushing ahead with an offensive in Marib, about 120 km (75 miles) east of Sanaa, trying to drive the Houthis out of the province in preparation for a push against the capital.

Residents also say that fighters from out of town, including some affiliated to al Qaeda, had been spotted on Aden’s streets, raising fears it was being taken over by Islamist militants.

In March, a Saudi-led Arab coalition launched an air campaign against the rebels and their allies among renegade forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Arabian Peninsula country’s conflict has killed more than 4,500 people over almost six months.

“We have asked the Saudi government to investigate all credible reports of civilian casualties resulting from coalition-led airstrikes and, if confirmed, to address the factors that led to them”, the official said on Wednesday.

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In Sanaa, residents said coalition air strikes had cut off two bridges, one linking the city to the major Red Sea port of Hodeida and the other to energy-producing Marib.

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