At least 40 dead in battle for Yemen port

Fighting for a key port city on Yemen's Red Sea coast has left at least 40 rebel and pro-government fighters dead, military officials said today.
Loyalist forces said yesterday they had captured the port of Mokha, almost three weeks into an offensive to oust Shiite Huthi insurgents and their allies from Yemen's southwestern coast.
But they exchanged fire overnight with rebels still holed up in the port on Mokha's southwestern edge.
Clashes continued today on the southern and eastern outskirts of the city.
"Despite the significant human toll, the Huthis are still in the centre of Mokha," a military official told AFP.

Rebel snipers were reported to have slowed the loyalist advance.

At least 28 rebels and 12 pro-government fighters have been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours, military and medical sources said today.
That brought to nearly 200 the number of deaths on both sides since the offensive began.
Huthi forces had controlled Mokha since they overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced on other regions aided by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Forces supporting President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, launched a vast offensive on January 7 to retake the coastline overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait.