Fighter jet bombs presidential palace in Yemen, no casualties

A fighter jet that took off from Yemen's capital Sanaa bombed the republican palace where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi stays in the southern port city of Aden on Thursday afternoon, a government official based in Aden told Xinhua news agency.

"The military warplane fired one rocket on a building inside the republican palace in Aden, causing material damages only, without any casualties," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Anti-aircraft weapons were used to repel the military jets that came from Sanaa, flying over Hadi's residence in Aden," the source said.

A presidential source close to Hadi told Xinhua on condition of anonymity: "I can confirm that a fighter jet dropped a bomb or fired a missile in the vicinity of the presidential palace in Aden, causing no casualties."

Hadi, who fled to Aden in late February after escaping house arrest by the Shia Houthi group that controls the capital Sanaa, resumed presidential duties in the city.

However, tribal militia from Hadi's hometown of the southern Abyan province have been in sporadic clashes with security forces led by Brigadier Abdul-Haffez Saqqaf who does not recognise Hadi's legitimacy in Aden since late February when Hadi issued his first presidential decree in the port city to sack Saqqaf who was accused of supporting the Houthi group.