At least 27 people were killed in Yemen on Saturday as fighting raged in two southern towns between rebels and loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, local officials said.

At least four pro-Hadi fighters and six Huthi rebels were killed in dawn clashes in the town of Daleh, north of the main southern city of Aden, an official said.

Eight more rebels were killed in an ambush.

Farther east, in Loder, loyalist militiamen killed nine rebels in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, a government official in the town said.