ADEN, Yemen, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Amid calls for de-escalation in war-ravaged Yemen, fighting continued in the country's northeastern oil-rich province of Marib with more than 82 people killed in the past two days, an official told Xinhua on Friday.
In the latest clash, militants of the Houthi rebel group carried out several offensives and attacked various areas controlled by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces around the strategic province, the local official said on condition of anonymity.
The Houthi armed attacks resulted in the killing of nearly 34 soldiers of the government forces stationed near Marib's main entrances, the source said.
He noted that the government forces backed by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition retaliated from ground and air, killing more than 48 fighters of the Houthi rebel group during the past two days.
Also on Friday, thousands of internally displaced families are facing harsh living conditions as escalating fighting continues to block essential supply lines to the densely populated province of Marib.
Local Yemeni politicians, including members of the pro-government parliament and heads of some humanitarian organizations, have repeatedly demanded a cease-fire in Marib.
They called on warring sides to end fighting and resume negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations to put an end to the years-long bloody conflict.
Marib currently hosts more than 2 million internally displaced people who were forced previously to leave their houses in different war-torn Yemeni regions.
An official of the Marib's local authority told Xinhua anonymously that "a number of Marib's villages were completely captured by the Houthis during the past few days of fighting, displacing many new local families again."
He said that the western and southern sides of the of Marib are still witnessing ferocious battles between government forces and the Houthis despite continuing calls for de-escalation to help the besieged displaced families.
Without commenting on the casualties on its side, a source of the Houthi rebel group said that warplanes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition continued to bomb their sites around Marib, sparking an intense fighting there.
On Thursday, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths urged warring parties to implement a nationwide cease-fire and reach a date for peace talks.
Briefing the UN Security Council, Griffiths highlighted international unity in support of ending six years of fighting between the Yemeni government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and the Ansar Allah movement, also known locally as the Houthis.
"These arrangements will allow for a normalization of life ... that seemed like a cruel hope for the people of Yemen," he said.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni military conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government. Enditem