A Saudi-backed airstrike has struck a crowded market in Yemen killing at least 25 - as the death toll from bombings in the last 48 hours soars to more than 70.

Yemeni witnesses and security officials confirmed a number of children had also been killed in the attack and that Tuesday's strike in the western province of Taiz wounded at least 30 others.

Both witnesses and officials asked to remain anonymous because they had not been authorised to speak to media and their feared retribution.

A Saudi-backed airstrike has struck a crowded market in Yemen killing at least 25 as the death toll from bombings in the last 48 hours soars to more than 70

International rights groups accused the coalition of bombing civilian gatherings, markets, hospitals and residential areas across Yemen since the beginning of its air campaign against Iran-backed rebels, known as Houthis, in March 2015.

Government troops and coalition forces have been advancing along the Red Sea coast, seizing the town of Khokha earlier this month.

The stated goal is to reach Hodeida, Yemen's second largest port and a key entry point for aid to the country.

The UN has warned the port faces 'the largest famine the world has seen for many decades'.

But the coalition has met strong resistance from the Shiite Huthis, who control the capital Sanaa and most of northern Yemen.

On Monday a deadly air raid in Sanaa hit the guard house at a memorial to Egyptian soldiers killed in Yemen in the 1960s, according to a witness who served as a first responder.

Yemeni witnesses and security officials confirmed a number of children had also been killed in the attack

Tuesday's strike in the western province of Taiz wounded at least 30 others

The guardian of the memorial Ali Mosleh al-Rimi and his wife were killed, along with his four daughters and another relative, Moussaed al-Himi said.

Himi, who helped evacuate the bodies, said two other family members were wounded.

Rebel media put the number of dead at 11.

'I saw everything with my own eyes,' Himi said, adding that multiple missiles had hit the house, which was left badly damaged.

A Saudi-led coalition has been waging an air campaign against Yemen's Huthi rebels since March 2015 in an attempt to shore up the internationally recognised government of President Abedrabbo Mansur Hadi.

Government troops and coalition forces have been advancing along the Red Sea coast, seizing the town of Khokha earlier this month

The stated goal is to reach Hodeida, Yemen's second largest port and a key entry point for aid to the country

Fighting and air raids have intensified since December 19, when Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Huthis towards the capital Riyadh.

More than 8,750 people have been killed in the conflict since the coalition's intervention in the impoverished country, where more than 2,000 people have also died of cholera this year.

The UN human rights office said it had tallied 136 civilians killed and another 87 wounded in strikes on Sanaa, Saada, Hodeida, Marib and Taez governorates between December 6 and 16.

The stalemated war has killed more than 10,000 civilians and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.

The coalition could not immediately be reached for comment.