ADEN, Yemen, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Scores of Yemeni people were killed and many others were injured on Saturday as non-stop fighting struck various areas of the war-torn Arab country.

According to a local government official who asked to remain anonymous, the most ferocious fighting occurred between the government forces and the Houthi rebels over the control of the country's oil-rich province of Marib.

The source explained that the Houthis launched all-out military attacks on the government forces stationed in northwestern Marib and sparked bloody battles between the two sides.

He confirmed that the battles killed more than 26 soldiers of the government forces, and wounded dozens of others.

He indicated that the battles are still taking place in the area amid intensified airstrikes launched by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition against the Houthi-controlled locations.

Meanwhile, the pro-government Defence Ministry said in a brief press statement that "more than 50 members of the Houthi militia were killed and many others wounded by the fire of the national army forces during the past 24 hours in Marib."

It said that the pro-government army forces backed by local tribesmen managed to repulse the Houthi attacks towards key sites and rural areas in Marib.

Elsewhere in Yemen, intense fighting erupted between the pro-government forces and the Houthi rebels in the country's southwestern province of Taiz.

The Houthis engaged in intense armed confrontations with the government forces over the control of key villages in Taiz's western countryside, the source said anonymously.

While in the northwestern province of Hajjah, the Houthi militants launched simultaneous armed attacks from several directions on the government forces.

The local Yemeni official elaborated that government forces supported by warplanes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition succeeded in repelling the Houthi attacks against Hajjah.

Fighters from both sides were killed or injured in Hajjah, and the battle still continued sporadically during the past hours, he concluded.

On the other side, the Houthi rebel group claimed that its fighters aborted a number of attacks carried out by the government forces in the countryside of Taiz.

According to the Houthis-affiliated Masirah television network, the pro-government forces faced stiff resistance and failed to achieve any progress in Taiz's countryside areas.

Regional and international powers are making efforts to end the long-lasting bloody conflict and achieving permanent peace in the impoverished Arab country.

Yemen has been mired in a 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 Yemeni military conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government. Enditem

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