RIYADH

At least 50 people were killed when the Shiite Houthi group shelled Tawahi, a district of Yemen's southern city of Aden, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyad Yassin said Wednesday.

At a press briefing held in Saudi capital Riyadh, he called for "rescuing" the southern city.

The foreign minister's call came as warplanes affiliated with a Saudi Arabia-led coalition continued to pound Houthi positions across Yemen.

Tawahi is said to be a stronghold of supporters of embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is currently in Saudi Arabia.

The area is home to a presidential palace and a number of important security facilities.

Yassin said Houthi militants had shelled Tawahi with artillery.

"Area residents tried to flee the shelling," he added, noting that the 50 victims were all civilians.

He called on coalition troops to "rescue" Aden from the Houthis and urged the international community to intervene.

Yassin also accused the Houthis of seeking to sabotage an upcoming conference on Yemen scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia.

Pro-Hadi militants, meanwhile, have called for a ground operation to rescue Tawahi in particular and Aden in general.

They describe Houthi attacks on the district as "genocide."

"The situation in Aden calls for an urgent ground operation," pro-Hadi militants said in a statement. 

Such a move, they added, would prevent the southern city from falling into the hands of Houthi militiamen and end the killing of civilians.

On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive military campaign targeting Houthi positions across Yemen.

Riyadh says its air campaign comes in response to Hadi's appeals for military intervention against the Houthis.

Hadi, who is backed by the Sunni-majority Gulf States, fled to Riyadh in March after Houthi forces attacked his residence in the southern port city of Aden, from which he had hoped to reinstate his embattled presidency.