Ex-Yemeni president tells Shiite allies to withdraw

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Ousted Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh called upon his Shiite rebel allies to withdraw from occupied cities Friday as a United Nations report concluded more than 500 civilians, including 115 children, have been killed since the start of a month-long Saudi-led airstrike campaign targeting the rebel forces.

A combined force of Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and military troops loyal to Saleh, took over the capital, Sanaa, last fall. They eventually forced Yemen's Western-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the capital. When Hadi settled in the southern city of Aden, the rebel alliance began advancing southward and Hadi eventually fled the country. A coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia began conducting airstrikes against rebel positions on March 26.

In a statement broadcast Friday on his Yemen TV network, Saleh referred to his Houthi allies by their political name, Ansar Allah, and said, "I call upon Ansar Allah to accept the Security Council resolutions and implement them," in return for an end to the Saudi-led coalition offensive. He added Yemeni blood "has been shed for no reason."

Saleh made a veiled accusation Hadi was allied with the country's active and dangerous Al-Qaida branch, saying "all militias, Al-Qaida, and armed men affiliated to Hadi should withdraw from all provinces."

He also called for a Saudi-Yemeni peace talks.

The battle in the Arab world's poorest country pits the Iranian-backed Houthis and Saleh's forces against the Saudi-led coalition and Hadi. Western governments and the Sunni Arab countries in the coalition say the Houthis are being armed by Shiite powerhouse Iran. Tehran and the rebels deny that, insisting the Islamic Republic has only provided political and humanitarian support.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville said 551 civilians have been killed and 1,185 civilians injured between March 26 and April 22.

The deaths, the agency said, resulted from both airstrikes and armed conflict on the ground between the Shiite rebels and their allies on one side and tribesmen and militias on the other. The two sides have been engaged in heavy battles in several cities, particularly in the south.

In one incident, the agency said, a bridge was hit twice by warplanes on Wednesday in the western province of Ibb, killing 40 civilians, including seven children. The deaths included people who rushed the help the casualties from the first strike only to get hit by the second strike.