A Saudi-led coalition Wednesday targeted the headquarters of Yemen’s special forces in the capital, Sana’a, killing at least 30 people, medical officials said.

A health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said most of the dead were special forces troops, and at least 100 people had also been injured.

The special forces, which include counterterrorism forces trained to take on the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda, are loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Along with other pro-Saleh forces, they have supported the mainly Shi’ite Houthi rebels in their advance across the country.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab countries have been targeting the Houthis and pro-Saleh military units ever since those groups forced President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi from the country in late March.

The Saudi-led coalition also shelled northern Yemen’s largest naval base from air and sea, witnesses in the city of Hodeida on the Red Sea coast said.

The latest raids come a day after the UN admitted that peace talks due to start in Geneva on Thursday would not be going ahead.

Hadi’s exiled government, now based in the Saudi capital Riyadh, had demanded that the Houthis comply with a UN Security Council resolution and withdraw from Sana’a and other cities before any negotiations. News24