Twelve pro-government fighters killed in Yemen munitions depot explosion: officials

At least 12 pro-government fighters were killed and others were wounded in an overnight explosion inside a munitions depot in the Yemeni city of Aden, two military officials told AFP on Thursday.

It is unclear what caused the explosion that hit a military camp close to Aden airport, which belongs to the Giants Brigades, the officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The Giants Brigades is a Yemeni armed faction that was created by the United Arab Emirates but later switched camps to ally itself with the Saudi-backed government.

"Twelve members of the Giants Brigades were killed -- in a preliminary toll -- and nine others were wounded in an explosion at the Al-Solban camp," a military official told AFP.

Another Yemeni military official also gave the same toll.

More than a decade of war has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Yemen and divided the country between the Iran-backed Houthis, who hold much of the populous north, and the government, which controls the rest of the country.

The government was once a patchwork of Saudi and UAE-backed groups but is now dominated by Riyadh after a failed takeover of the south by UAE-backed separatists last year.

The UAE has said it has withdrawn from Yemen, while most of the groups it supported switched their allegiance to Riyadh.