Clashes between forces loyal to Yemen’s fugitive former president and popular committees forces, backed by Ansarullah fighters, as well as Saudi airstrikes have left at least 27 people dead in southwest Yemen, medical sources say.

Sources in the city of Ta'izz released the death toll on Saturday, with residents saying that the city was the scene of explosions and gunfire between the warring sides overnight.

According to a medical source, the dead included 19 members of the popular committees, four soldiers of a mechanized army unit loyal to former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and four other pro-Hadi fighters.

On Friday, Saudi air raids targeted a presidential palace in Ta'izz and the positions of the popular committees in Yemen’s third largest city.

Fresh Saudi attacks across Yemen

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s air campaign targeted several other areas across Yemen on Saturday, including Faj Attan area in the western part of the capital, Sana’a, as well an educational center in the Tayal Khawlan district.

The northwestern Yemeni city of Sa’ada also witnessed similar assaults. However, no casualties have been reported yet.

The remains of the Republican Palace in the southwestern Yemeni city of Ta'izz pictured on April 17, 2015 following a Saudi air raid (© AFP)

Yemen’s conflict

Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen started on March 26 - without a United Nations mandate - in a bid to restore power to Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Houthis say Hadi’s government failed to properly run the affairs of the country and contain the growing wave of corruption and terror.

Earlier this week, Colonel Sharaf Luqman, the spokesman for Yemen’s armed forces and popular committees, said civilians and Yemeni infrastructure have been the target of the Saudi aggression, during which over 2,600 people have been killed so far.

The United Nations has called for an immediate “humanitarian pause” of at least a few hours each day to allow deliveries of urgently needed aid to the conflict-weary country.

MR/HJL/SS