At least 18 soldiers loyal to Yemen's government and 20 fighters of the Shiite Houthi group during intense fighting in the country's southeastern province of Shabwa on Sunday, a military official told Xinhua.

He said that the intense fighting erupted after hundreds of pro-government soldiers launched an all-out offensive to recapture Bayhan district from the Houthi rebels who were preparing to make more ground advances in Shabwa province.

"About two key checkpoints were recaptured from the Houthi rebels in Bayhan district. The Houthi rebels suffered huge losses and withdrew from some positions," the Yemeni military source said on condition of anonymity.

The Yemeni military source added that the pro-government army commanders in Shabwa are determined to liberate all the areas controlled by Houthis in Shabwa.

However, tribal sources told Xinhua that heavy pro-Houthi forces supported by armored vehicles arrived in Bayhan and Usylan districts to counter the government forces there.

The fighting is still going on between the two warring sides in the Bayhan district that is located in the borders linking Yemen's province of Shabwa and northern Marib province, according to the local sources.

Yemeni experts said that the pro-Houthi forces took advantage of the ongoing ceasefire and the absence of the Saudi-led warplanes to reposition and advance on ground militarily.

Sunday's fighting occurred despite the cease-fire that came into force on April 10 and was supposed to pave the way for the Kuwait peace talks, but both warring sides have complained of violations by each other, along with continuing heavy shelling and airstrikes.

The UN-brokered negotiations began in Kuwait on April 21 under the auspices of the United Nations to seek a reconciliation to end more than a year of civil war in Yemen.

The talks is the third of its kind since the conflict began after Houthi militias stormed the capital Sanaa and expelled Hadi with his government into exile in September 2014. Previous peace negotiations had failed to end hostilities.

The talks enter the seventh week, but rival negotiators have so far failed to agree on the agenda in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

The resolution orders Houthi militias to withdraw from Sanaa and all other cities, hand back weapons and release political prisoners before forming new sharing transitional government.

Houthi and Saleh delegates have been insisting on forming a new transitional government before discussing other topics.

Both rival delegations keep trading accusations of cease-fire breaches all over the three weeks of talks that progress slowly.

The civil war has drawn in Saudi-led coalition on March 2015, in response to President Hadi's call to restore his internationally recognized government to the capital Sanaa.

The civil war has killed more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more 35,000 others, and displaced over two millions, according to humanitarian aid agencies.

Yemen's conflict began after 2011 massive popular protests that demanded an end to the 33-year rule of then President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Source: XINHUA