Saudi-led airstrikes target Yemen rebel 'training camp'

Saudi-led coalition air strikes on a Yemen "rebel training camp" northwest of the capital on Sunday killed at least 26 Houthi fighters, security sources said.

The head of the training camp in Hajjah province, Amar al-Jarab, was among those killed in the strikes, the sources close to the Shiite rebels told AFP.

A warehouse where rockets were stocked was also hit, the sources added.

The raids come with the war-torn country plunged deeper into turmoil by Monday's killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of the Houthis after his alliance with the rebels collapsed.

Forces of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government retook the Red Sea town of Khokha from the rebels on Thursday after clashes that killed dozens, local officials and medical sources said.

On Sunday, Katyusha rockets believed to have been fired by the Iran-backed Houthis hit Khokha, killing a six-year-old girl and wounding five other civilians, residents said.

Further east in the town of Hays and north in Tuhayta, rebels clashed with loyalists on Sunday, pro-government forces said.

Khokha lies between rebel-held Hodeida and government-controlled Mokha on the Red Sea, and is central to the government expanding its control over the strategic coastline.

The port of Hodeida is the main conduit for UN-supervised deliveries of food and medicine to Yemen, where poverty has been compounded by war and a blockade on ports and airports imposed by the Saudi-led coalition.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday warned against fighting intensifying along the Red Sea coast near what it called densely populated urban areas.

ICRC regional head of operations Robert Mardini called on all sides to protect civilians.

More than 8,750 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015, to help the government of Abedrabbo Hadi Mansour fight the Houthis.

It has triggered what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.