Yemeni officials confirmed that the Southern Transitional Council, which was once part of a Gulf-backed coalition fighting the Houthi rebels, had taken all of the government military camps in the strategic city.
A separatist commander later claimed they also seized the presidential palace. Fierce clashes between southern separatist forces and forces loyal to recognised President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi first erupted on Wednesday. Government officials also said separatists took over the house of interior minister Ahmed al-Mayssari after he was evacuated by coalition forces.
At least 70 people, including civilians, have been killed in four days of fighting which erupted on Wednesday between separatists and government loyalists in Aden. The separatists had accused an Islamist party allied to Mr Hadi of complicity in a missile attack on a southern forces military parade in Aden , which killed their most senior commander Monir Mahmoud al Yafi. The attack had been initially claimed by the Houthis. Yemen has already been ripped apart by an entirely separate five-year war, which was triggered by the seizure of the country by Iran-backed Houthis who ousted Mr Hadi in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies including the UAE launched a bombing campaign the same year to try to reinstate the president.
However, the conflict with the Houthis, which has left nearly 13 million on the brink of famine, has reached a stalemate over the last few months. Serious fractures within the Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, have threatened to spill into fresh conflict. Thousands of southern fighters have received training and arms from the UAE as part of the effort to combat the Iran-backed Houthis. However, the STC and its affiliated forces see a different future for Yemen than the Yemeni government, believing in a return to an independent south, rather than a single Yemen which was first unified in Mr Hadi, who has been largely based in Riyadh since being ousted from power by the Houthis, is seen to be more allied to Saudi Arabia.
There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition. The UAE had earlier called for calm and a renewed focus on opposing the Houthis. The seizure of Aden appeared planned. The UN is trying to implement a stalled peace deal in the main port city of Hodeidah, further to the north.
