6 killed in Houthi attack on women's prison

Yemeni government officials claimed shelling by Houthi rebels on Sunday hit a prison for women in the country's south western province, killing at least six prisoners.

The officials said the attack also wounded at least two dozen prisoners, including four children staying with their imprisoned mothers, at the central prison in government-held Taiz province.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

There has been no immediate comment from the Houthis.

The shelling came amid a drastic escalation in fighting between the internationally recognised government's forces and the Houthi rebels in recent weeks.

Increased violence in Yemen has displaced more than 40,000 people since January, adding to the estimated 3.6 million who have fled their homes since the war began more than five years ago.

Yemen's civil war erupted late in 2014 when the Shiite Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country's north.

The Houthi advance ousted President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

A US-backed, Saudi-led military coalition intervened in early 2015 to try and restore Hadi's government.

The war has killed more than 100,000 people, many by Saudi-led airstrikes, and has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical shortages.