Yemen's exiled president returns to Aden after six months

President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi flew in to Aden on Tuesday, returning to war-torn Yemen for the first time in six months after fleeing the southern city for exile in Saudi Arabia, an airport security official said.

Hadi, who is recognised by the international community, arrived on board a Saudi military aircraft that landed at an airbase adjoining Aden's civilian airport, the security official told AFP.

Hadi's return comes after Vice President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and several government ministers also returned last week to Aden, which was retaken from the Houthi rebels in mid-July. 

Reuters reported that a government source said Hadi would spend the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday in Aden, before flying to New York to deliver a speech at the United Nations. 

The Houthis had advanced into Aden in March, resulting in coalition airstrikes led by Saudi Arabia to pound the southern port city.

Several months later in July, the Houthis were driven out of Aden by pro-government militiamen and soldiers loyal to Hadi, with the help of Arab coalition ground forces.

However, residents have complained of lawlessness and chaos at the hands of groups affiliated to al-Qaeda as government authorities were slow to restore order.

Hadi's arrival comes a day after thousands of Houthi sympathisers thronged the capital Sanaa to celebrate a year since its seizure.

The Houthis have seized much of Yemen with the help of renegade troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

70 killed in Saudi coalition strikes

Coalition bombing of the capital has continued, with 20 people reported killed when two houses were hit in an airstrike on Tuesday morning, Reuters reported. Fifty people were reported killed on Monday.

"Two missiles hit the two houses in the Asbahi district in southern Sanaa, destroying them, killing 20 people and wounding others," a medic at the scene told Reuters.

According to Saba, the Houthi-controlled state news agency, 236 people have been killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in the last four days. 

The United Nations says nearly 4,900 people have been killed since late March in Yemen. The UN aid chief has called the scale of human suffering "almost incomprehensible".