Top Aide Denies Yemen's President Hadi Has Fled Aden

A top aide to Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi denied today that the embattled leader has fled the country as rebel forces approached his refuge in the southern city of Aden.

Hadi has been transferred to a "secure location within Aden" the official said, shortly after a presidential source said the president has fled abroad by a helicopter.

Shiite Huthi militia, backed by troops allied to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, advanced rapidly today towards Aden, seizing the Al-Anad airbase some 50 kilometers north of the main southern city.

Hadi "boarded a helicopter from Al-Maasheeq palace to an unknown destination abroad," a presidential guard said, before the aide insisted the president was still in the port city.

Aden residents were meanwhile taking up arms at an army depot in preparation for a potential advance on the city by anti-government forces, a military source said.

The militiamen have seized large parts of Yemen and in recent days have been moving towards Aden, where Hadi fled after escaping house arrest in the capital Sanaa last month.

Yemen, a longtime US ally in the war on Al-Qaeda, is increasingly divided between a north controlled by the Huthis, allegedly backed by Iran, and a south dominated by Hadi supporters.