Militiamen in Yemen's Aden say two Iranian officers captured

ADEN: Local militiamen in the southern Yemeni city of Aden said they captured two Iranian military officers advising Houthi rebels during fighting on Saturday.

Tehran has strongly denied providing any military support for the fighters, whose advances have drawn Saudi-led air strikes.

If confirmed, the presence of the two Iranian officers whom the local militiamen said were from the Revolutionary Guards would deepen tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, who are vying for influence in the Middle East.

Three sources in the southern port city's anti-Houthi militias said the Iranians, identified as a colonel and a captain, were seized in two separate districts that have been rocked by heavy gun battles.

Read: Yemen rebels quit Aden palace after air raids: senior official

"The initial investigation revealed that they are from the Quds Force and are working as advisors to the Houthi militia," one of the sources told Reuters.

"They have been put in a safe place and we will turn them over to (the Saudi-led coalition) Decisive Storm to deal with them."

Saudi-led air strikes, entering their third week, hit Houthi and military targets throughout the country on Saturday, pounding government buildings and a presidential palace used by the group's leaders in the Red Sea port city of Hodaida.

Smoke rises from the Faj Attan Hill area in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on April 7, 2015, following an alleged air strike by the Saudi-led alliance on Huthi rebels camps. PHOTO: AFP

Ground combat between armed factions battered southern Yemen, killing around 20 Houthi fighters and two rival militiamen, residents and militia fighters said.

Read: Red Cross says situation 'catastrophic' in Yemen's Aden

Bolstered by the air raids, local armed groups have been resisting the southward advance of the northern-based Houthis.

Residents said southern fighters ambushed a convoy of Houthis and allied forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a tribal area about 100 km (60 miles) north of the militia's base in Aden, killing 15 of the northerners.

Inside the port city, Houthi forces and local militiamen battled with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns. Five Houthis and two local fighters died, residents said.

Read: Saudi navy evacuates diplomats from Yemen's Aden: TV

Locals said Houthi forces were shelling civilian areas and trying to push into the Tawahi district, one of the only areas where they have no presence and home to a presidential palace and the city's military port.

While the Houthis deny getting help from Iran and say their armed campaign is designed to stamp out corruption and al Qaeda militants, Saudi Arabia and its allies describe them as an Iranian-backed threat to regional security.

The United Nations says the conflict, in which the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in northern Yemen in September, has killed 600 people, wounded 2,200 and displaced 100,000 others.