Yemen truce stumbles, shelling reported in north and south

[July 27, 2015]  SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - Residents and Saudi media said Yemen's Houthi militia had continued fighting across Yemen on Monday despite a ceasefire announcement by Saudi-led forces fighting to restore the elected Gulf-backed president.

The Arab coalition fighting the Houthis, an Iranian-allied movement that controls large parts of Yemen after seizing the capital in September, had announced a five-day ceasefire from 11:59 p.m. (2059 GMT) on Sunday to allow emergency aid deliveries amid severe shortages of fuel, food and medicine.

But the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported that Houthi forces had shelled the northerly al-Tawal region on the Saudi border hours after the truce was meant to have started, and that Saudi forces had retaliated.

In the second city, Aden, residents said Houthi forces had fired missiles at the Mansoura and Sheikh Othman districts from shortly after midnight until after dawn.

The Saba news service, which is loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said Houthi militias had shelled several residential communities in the southern town of Dalea, about 170 km (105 miles) north of Aden.

The Saudi state news broadcaster Ekhbariya reported that Houthi forces had launched attacks in the central Marib province and the central city of Taiz.

A spokesman for the Houthi movement could not immediately be contacted for comment.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashef, Mohammed Ghobari, Omar Fahmy and Hadeel al Sayegh, Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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