Yemen's President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has fled his palace in Aden as Houthi rebels advance towards the city.
Gunfire
could be heard around the city centre, and security forces allied to
the Houthis are reported to have taken over the international airport.
On Wednesday morning, the rebels moved to within 60km (37 miles) of Aden after seizing the country's largest air base.
Government officials later said the president had been moved to a "secure location" but had not fled the country.
The
Reuters news agency reports that Aden residents attempted to storm an
army barracks to obtain weapons before being repulsed by troops.
Meanwhile, sources in neighbouring Saudi Arabia told Reuters that
there were no plans for military intervention in the crisis, and that
the build-up of military forces on its border with Yemen was "purely
defensive".
Mr Hadi took refuge in Aden last month after fleeing
Sanaa. He had been placed under house arrest when rebels captured the
capital but escaped.
'Secure location'
On
Wednesday morning, rebel fighters secured al-Anad air base with the
support of security forces loyal to ousted former President Ali Abdullah
Saleh, and declared their intent to take nearby Aden.
US and European military advisers were evacuated from al-Anad last
week after militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
overran a nearby town.
Soon afterwards, a source in the
presidential guard told the AFP news agency that Mr Hadi had boarded a
helicopter at the presidential palace and headed "to an unknown
destination abroad".
But senior aides to Mr Hadi insisted he had
merely been transferred to a "secure location within Aden" and had no
plans to leave.
Hours later, unidentified warplanes targeted the palace compound in
Aden, officials and witnesses said, in the third such attack in a week.
Houthi
spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam told al-Masirah TV that the rebels would
be in Aden "in a few hours", but stressed that they were not planning
to "occupy" the south.
Aden TV, a local pro-Hadi channel, urged
residents to remain calm, preserve order and not allow "infiltrators and
those with weak spirits" to encroach on public or private property.
Bounty
Meanwhile,
Houthi officials said its fighters had arrested the country's Defence
Minister, Mahmoud al-Subaihi, and a senior aide in the southern city of
Lahj, where clashes were continuing on Wednesday.
State
television, which is controlled by the rebels, also announced a reward
of 20m Yemeni riyals ($93,000; £62,500) for anyone who captured the
"fugitive" president.
On Tuesday, Mr Hadi asked the UN Security
Council to authorise military intervention by "willing countries" to
"protect Yemen and to deter" imminent Houthi aggression in the south.
On Wednesday the Arab League said it would discuss the proposal for a military intervention to stop the rebel advance.
The
Zaidi Shia-led rebels have said their aim is to replace Mr Hadi's
government, which they accuse of being corrupt, and to implement the
outcomes of the National Dialogue that was convened when Mr Saleh was
forced to hand over power in 2011 following mass protests.
The Houthis swept southwards from their northern heartland of Saada province last summer, entering the capital in September.
They
have since pushed into central, western and southern provinces with the
support of Mr Saleh's allies, sparking clashes with Sunni tribesmen,
AQAP militants and southern separatists. Yemen - who is fighting whom?
The Houthis: Zaidi Shia-led rebels from the north, who seized control of Sanaa last year and have since been expanding their control President Hadi:
Backed by military and police loyalists, and by militia known as
Popular Resistance Committees, he is trying to fight back against the
rebels from his stronghold in the south Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: Seen by the US as the most dangerous offshoot of al-Qaeda, AQAP opposes both the Houthis and President Hadi. Islamic State: A Yemeni affiliate of IS has recently emerged, seeking to eclipse AQAP. Yemen crisis: An Iranian-Saudi battleground? Yemen: Waiting for the war Meeting the Houthis - and their enemies The rise of Yemen's Houthi rebels
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