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Yemen’s exiled PM, ministers return to Aden

The move follows the recapture of Aden from Houthi rebels in July.

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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 the latest violence in Aden, gunmen set fire to a Roman Catholic church on Wednesday – one of few remaining in the city.

Bahah made a brief visit to Aden in August.

“If the Houthis are serious about sitting down for negotiations about implementing (U.N. Security Council) resolution 2216, they must publicly announce their recognition of this resolution”, Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi told Reuters by telephone from Riyadh.

He was accompanied by ministers of interior, telecommunications, planning, social affairs and expatriates.

Many government supporters accuse Hadi of not doing enough to resist the insurgents known as Houthis when they seized the capital last September.

The man said he was being held along with several other Saudi soldiers, but did not specify how many.

On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition and pro-government forces launched an offensive in Marib province, a Houthi stronghold east of Sanaa, with the aim of retaking the capital. Among the dead, seven of them belonged to the same family. The destruction of infrastructure, along with a naval blockade imposed by the coalition on Yemen’s main ports, has caused critical shortages of fuel and medical supplies and left millions without access to electricity or clean water.

Ahmed Obaid, a retired Yemeni army officer in his 60s, said controlling Marib and Al Jawf was essential for the pro-government forces, comprising the Yemeni military, loyalist tribal fighters and troops from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that is seeking to restore the government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.

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UN-sponsored talks in Geneva between the Yemeni government and the Houthis in June failed to achieve a breakthrough.

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