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SANAA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed a five-member family near a public market in Yemen's capital Sanaa, as battles between the government and Houthi rebels intensified, officials and residents said on Monday.
"A husband, his wife and their three children were killed when an airstrike at the dawn destroyed their house near Nehem central market," a local official told Xinhua.
The central market and most of the villages and mountains around Nehem, some 50 km northeast of Sanaa, are still under control of Shiite Houthi fighters and their ally forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemeni government army backed by warplanes from the Saudi-led military coalition have been fighting Houthis and Saleh's forces since the beginning of this year in Nehem, aiming to gain ground to force an opening access to the capital.
Government officials said that Saudi-led warplanes also launched 20 airstrikes on Monday morning on Frija military base in Arhab district, where forces loyal to former President are stationing in.
Residents said huge explosions were triggered after the series of airstrikes this morning on the military base.
Arhab district, about 25 km north of Sanaa international airport, is considered the nearest northern gate to the capital.
However, the rebel Houthis and Saleh's forces have been tightening force around the security belt of Sanaa outskirts and enhancing security inside the capital since they seized it in 2014 and drove government into exile.
Residents reported airstrikes and artillery fighting around the clock in Nehem since UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait collapsed three days ago.
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, UN envoy to Yemeni peace talks, said the talks would be resumed within a month in another country.
Local officials estimated at least 80 fighters from both warring rival forces have been killed in the battlefields in Nehem since Saturday.
The battles have forced thousands of villagers to flee their homes and farms to Sanaa and other secure regions.
Fighting backed by Saudi airstrikes also raged in Yemeni town of Haradh and Red Sea port city of Medi on the southwestern border with Saudi Arabia.
Pro-government media claimed that loyal forces have killed 50 Houthi rebels, while Houthi media reported the killings of 52 troops since Saturday.
Residents in the capital reported non-stop flying of Saudi-led coalition warplanes, but said no airstrike on targets in Sanaa yet took place.
Saudi Arabia-led Arab military coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015, but failed to restore exiled government to Houthi-held capital.
Houthi group and Saleh's party on Saturday formed a ruling political council to unilaterally run the country from Sanaa.
The decision was carried out at the last day of UN-sponsored failed peace talks.
Houthi and Saleh refused to obey UN Security Resolution 2216 to hand over the capital and army weapons to the exiled government.
The war has killed over 6,400 people, mostly civilians, and displaced more than two million others.
