14 killed as police, jihadists clash in Yemen's Aden

At least 12 Al-Qaeda fighters and two policemen were killed in fighting on the ground and coalition air strikes on second city Aden, security sources have said.
Fighter jets and Apache helicopters from the Saudi-led coalition carried out four air strikes in support of the security forces, they said.
Clashes in the port city's Mansura residential district continued late yesterday after breaking out in the late afternoon after security forces set up new checkpoints, they added.
Dozens of gunmen in balaclavas carrying the Al-Qaeda flag deployed to push back police trying to enter the neighbourhood, witnesses said.
The police said in a statement that fighting against the "armed terrorist gangs in Mansura will continue to ensure the safety of residents" in the internationally recognised government's temporary capital.

The air strikes -- which started after jihadists shot at an Apache helicopter -- hit a municipal office and a jihadist arms depot, witnesses said.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have taken advantage of the conflict between the Huthi insurgents and pro-government forces to reinforce their presence in the south, including in Aden.
Meanwhile, pro-government forces yesterday pressed their offensive aimed at breaking the rebels' months-long siege of the southwestern city of Taez, military sources said.
Fighting raged north and east of the city, they said, a day after loyalists pushed the Iran-backed Huthis out of its western and southern suburbs.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi managed to "retake important positions" in a northern suburb where heavy clashes continued, one source said.
But retaking the eastern part will be more difficult, the source said, as this is held by the Republican Guard, an elite army unit loyal to former president and Huthi ally Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The rebels and their allies have been attacking residential neighbourhoods of Taez from this area, which includes an airport, an industrial zone and the headquarters of the special forces, the source added, without giving a death toll.
Loyalists yesterday morning pushed back rebels trying to retake the headquarters of the army's 35th brigade in the western suburbs, sources said.

Loyalists last summer retook five southern provinces including Aden and have for months been fighting to win back Taez.