DHAKA: Houthi fighters and allies backed by tanks have advanced onto a key district in the main southern city of Aden, despite a week of air strikes by Saudi-led coalition forces.

At least 19 people were killed in intense clashes between the rebels and local militia and residents loyal to internationally-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi near Khor Maksar on Wednesday.

Aden residents said they saw groups of fighters carrying rocket propelled grenades and accompanied by four tanks and three armored vehicles in the Khor Maksar district - part of a neck of land linking central Aden to the rest of the city.

Many people fled the area and some were trying to get on a ship leaving the port, as the death toll jumped to 122 over the past five days, reports the Al Jazeera.

A medic at the city’s main Jumhouriya Hospital said that it has received the bodies of six dead civilians and five local militia fighters, known as ‘popular committees’.

BDST: 1135 HRS, APR 02, 2015