The Saudi-led Arab coalition warplanes shelled on Wednesday night a strait linking between Shabwah and al Bayda governorates in Yemen to cut off military supplies to the Houthi group and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The shelling left a large number of Houthi militants dead, including a senior Houthi leader and six of his aides, according to local sources.

Local sites, meanwhile, said 32 Houthi militants were killed Wednesday after five bombs targeted their military vehicles near Shuqrah coastal town in southern the country.

Yemen has been engulfed in conflicts between Houthis and the government forces since early 2015.

In late March, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states began launching airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen at the request of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

According to the United Nations, some 3,000 Yemenis have been killed since March and over 21 million are in need of humanitarian aid as a result of the armed conflict in the country.