27 dead as Yemen army closes in on Taiz palace

Aden: Yemeni government forces fought on Saturday to capture a rebel-held presidential palace in the southwestern province of Taiz after clashes that killed 27 people, medics and military sources said.

Medics at the rebel-controlled Thamar Government Hospital in Taiz, Yemen’s third city, said 19 Al Houthis had been killed in clashes over the past 24 hours.

Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported eight soldiers dead during the same period as the army closed in on the presidential palace.

The palace is under the control of the Iran-backed Al Houthis who are allied with former soldiers loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A Saudi-led coalition has fought in Yemen for the past two years on the side of the legitimate government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

A statement on Saudi Arabia’s official SPA news agency on Saturday said pro-government Yemeni forces had captured the palace in Taiz.

But military sources on the ground denied this, telling AFP that while government forces were closing in on the palace, they had not yet seized it.

Yemen’s conflict has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded tens of thousands, according to the UN’s World Health Organisation.