A Yemeni government spokesman says that government troops are consolidating control of the southern port city of Aden, with only a few "terrorist pockets" of Shiite rebels remaining to be cleared out.
Spokesman Ragah Badie said Friday that Aden was under a security lockdown as troops try to capture a senior rebel leader, Abdul-Khaliq al-Houthi. Military officials also said government forces will begin pushing north with two days into territory controlled by the Shiite rebels known as Houthis.
Meanwhile, an exiled official in Saudi Arabia denied reports that exiled Yemeni ministers had landed in Aden, adding that the situation is still "too fragile" to set a return date now.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters.