Houthi missile attack kills over a dozen people in Yemen's Marib

At least 12 people have been killed and 20 others wounded in a missile attack carried out by Houthi rebels in Yemen's Marib province.

The Houthis targeted five residences in Al Jalwah district, including the house of a clan leader, local sources and eyewitnesses said on Thursday.

Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar al-Iryani said on Twitter that Iranian-made ballistic missiles targeted a civilian settlement in Marib, destroying four homes and a mosque.

READ MORE: Scores of Houthi rebels killed in Yemen: Saudi-led coalition

The attack came as coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia announced that 95 Houthis were killed and 11 military vehicles were destroyed in operations carried out in the last 24 hours in Marib.

A statement on Thursday said the coalition carried out 22 operations targeting rebels in two districts near Marib that "killed 95 terrorists and damaged 11 military vehicles".

The latest bombing was carried out in Al-Jawba, about 50 kilometres south of Marib, and Al-Kassara, 30 kilometres to the northwest. 

Marib, capital of the oil-rich province of the same name, is the internationally recognised government's last bastion in northern Yemen. 

The Houthis have claimed to be tightening their grip around Marib. 

'Only a matter of time'

"Our forces have reached the vicinity of the city of Marib, which is nearly surrounded," said Mohammed Nasser Al-Atefi, who serves as defence minister in the Houthis' unrecognised government in Sanaa, west of Marib, according to the Al-Akhbar Lebanese daily.

He added that it is "only a matter of time" until they seize it. 

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres west of Marib, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year. 

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 

The Houthis began a major push to seize Marib in February and, after a lull, they have renewed their offensive in recent weeks.

Massive displacements

Tens of thousands have been displaced in the province this year, including nearly 10,000 in September alone, the UN's migration agency IOM told AFP Thursday. 

READ MORE: UN: Millions of Yemenis are 'marching towards starvation'

"From January 1 to September 30, IOM recorded more than 55,000 people displaced in Marib governorate in the areas where our displacement tracking and rapid response teams have access," the International Organization for Migration has said.

Marib city had between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants before the war but its population ballooned to hundreds of thousands as Yemenis fled frontline cities for its relative stability.

But with about 139 refugee camps in the province, according to the government, hosting approximately 2.2 million people, many displaced civilians have become caught in the line of fire once again.