ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's pro-government forces announced Saturday that nearly 40 members of the Houthi rebel group were killed in the ongoing fighting in the country's northeastern province of Marib.
According to a brief statement released by the pro-government Ministry of Defence, "the army units launched artillery shelling and killed a total of 40 members of the Houthi militia in Marib's northern outskirts."
The statement said that a number of vehicles carrying dozens of Houthi rebels were precisely struck by the artillery shelling near Marib.
All the targeted military vehicles belonging to the Houthi militia were completely destroyed at the scene, it said.
Meanwhile, media outlets linked to the Houthi group reported that a series of airstrikes were launched by the Saudi-led coalition against the militia's sites in Marib.
Battles are still continuing intensively as the Houthis are progressing to capture the strategic oil-rich province of Marib from the government's grip.
Dozens were either killed or injured from both warring sides in the non-stop armed confrontations in Marib amid heavy airstrikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.
Escalation of fighting between the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia has displaced nearly 400 families in Marib.
Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemen conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government. Enditem
