An army tank moves on a street in Yemen's southern port city of Aden March 27, 2015. REUTERS/Nabeel Quaiti

By Sami Aboudi and Mohammed Mukhashaf

ADEN (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's navy evacuated dozens of diplomats from Yemen and the United Nations pulled out international staff on Saturday after a third night of Saudi-led air strikes trying to stem advances by Iranian-allied Houthi fighters.

Residents reported heavy clashes between the Houthis and mainly Sunni tribal fighters in the south of the country, while the Saudi-led air campaign sought to stall a fresh offensive by the Shi'ite Muslim group on Aden from the east.

Riyadh's intervention, a surprise move from a conservative monarchy better known for flexing its muscle in oil markets than through military might, is planned to last a month but could extend for five or six, a Gulf diplomatic source said.

Dozens of diplomats were shipped out of Aden to the Red Sea port of Jeddah, Saudi television said, escaping the city where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had taken refuge until Thursday, when he left for Egypt to shore up Arab support for his crumbling authority.

The director general of Yemen's Health Ministry, al-Khadher Laswar, said more than 62 people had been killed and 452 wounded in the city since Wednesday. Explosions at the city's largest ammunition depot on Saturday left at least nine badly wounded, he said.

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People carry ammunition boxes they took from army depots in Yemen's southern port city of Aden M …

In the capital Sanaa, which has been under Houthi control since September, more than 100 U.N. staff were evacuated, a United Nations source said. Airport staff said dozens of other foreigners working for international oil companies and NGOs also flew out to Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Houthi fighters seeking to overthrow the Western- and Saudi-backed Hadi have continued to make gains since the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against them on Thursday.

On Friday, the Houthis and allied army units gained their first foothold on Yemen's Arabian Sea coast by seizing Shaqra, 100 km (60 miles) east of Aden, allowing them to open a new front to march on the south's main city.

"IRAN'S PUPPET"

Residents said a Houthi convoy of armored vehicles, tanks and military trucks heading along the coastal road to Aden from Shaqra was attacked by warplanes before dawn on Saturday, and a number of vehicles were hit.

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People sit on ammunition boxes they took from army depots in Yemen's southern port city of Aden …

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis, and no details on any casualties were available.

Local residents said the convoy had been stopped, but the Houthis were sending reinforcements to Shaqra and the advance along the main al-Mukalla-Aden road was expected to resume.

At the Arab summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hadi urged Yemen's army to protect state institutions and obey the orders of Yemen's "legitimate leadership".

He also underlined the regional dimensions of the conflict, calling the Houthis "Iran's puppet".

Riyadh's intervention is the latest front in its widening contest with Iran for power in the region. Their proxy struggle is also playing out in Syria, where Tehran backs Bashar al-Assad's government against mainly Sunni rebels, and Iraq, where Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias are playing a major role.

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People sit on ammunition boxes they took from army depots in Yemen's southern port city of Aden …

Saudi Arabia's King Salman told the summit the operation would continue until Yemen achieved peace and security, while Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said the Houthi advances "pose a threat to our security".

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, added to the sense of confrontation, saying: "Saudi Arabia is too small to be able to threaten Iran."

"We utterly condemn Saudi Arabia's attack on Yemen and it will end in failure," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

A Gulf diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Arab alliance initially planned a month-long campaign, but it could last up to six months.

He said Iran was likely to retaliate indirectly, by encouraging pro-Iranian Shi'ite activists to carry out armed attacks in Bahrain, Lebanon and eastern Saudi Arabia.

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People gather outside army depots to loot weapons and ammunition in Yemen's southern port city o …

SCUD MISSILES

The official said Gulf Arab concern had been heightened in January by satellite imagery showing Houthis repositioning Scud missiles in northern districts near the Saudi border, aimed at Saudi territory.

He said Yemen's military had about 300 Scuds, the bulk of them believed to be in the hands of the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and that the campaign so far had destroyed 21 of them.

Yemen, by far the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula, has struggled to regain stability since mass protests in 2011 that eventually unseated Saleh after 33 years in power.

Hadi led a U.N.- and Gulf-backed national dialogue that was discussing a new constitution when the Houthis took the capital and pushed him aside. The Gulf official said the aim of the Saudi-led intervention was to restore that process, and that the Houthis could have a role in it.

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People ride a truck as they loot army depots in Yemen's southern port city of Aden March 27, 201 …

Saudi-led forces launched the air strikes on Thursday as Houthi forces appeared poised to take Aden. The strikes bolstered local militias defending the city but have not blunted the offensive completely.

In a week of intense fighting, the Houthis have taken the Red Sea port of al-Mukha to Aden's northwest, and the city's northern outskirts.

Their entry into Shaqra means they control most land routes to Aden and can block tribal fighters trying to come in to reinforce Hadi's troops.

The medical relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres said doctors at its hospital in Aden, who had received at least 250 wounded people in the last week, were struggling to cope.

"On Thursday alone, we received 87 injured. It was tragic," said Hani Isleem, a manager at the hospital. "We were working in difficult conditions and all the time ducking out heads so that we were not hit by the shooting we were constantly hearing outside."

(Additional reporting by Mohamed Mukhashef in Aden, Omar Fahmy in Cairo, Yara Bayoumy in Sharm el-Sheikh, Amena Bakr in Doha and Sam Wilkin in Dubai; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Russia: Yemen conflict jeopardizes Iran nuke talks

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Suspected Boko Haram gunmen beheaded 23 people and set fire to homes in Buratai, northeast Nigeria, on the eve of Saturday's general elections, a federal lawmaker representing the area told AFP.

"There was an attack on Buratai late Friday by gunmen suspected to be insurgents....They beheaded 23 people and set homes on fire," said Mohammed Adamu, who represents the town some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Borno's capital Maiduguri.

"At least half the village has been burnt," he added.

A nurse at the nearest major hospital, in Biu, said the 32 injured who were receiving care also reported that many were decapitated during the attack.

Further details of the violence were not immediately available, but the attack is consistent with Boko Haram's past strikes in the area in the south of the state, where defenceless civilians have been repeatedly targeted.

It was not clear if the raid late Friday was linked to Saturday's polls, but Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had vowed to disrupt the vote.

Elsewhere in Nigeria's restive northeast, suspected Islamist militants killed at least seven people in separate attacks in the Gombe state.

Witnesses reported that the assailants in Gombe made clear their intention was to disrupt the polls.

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis's decision to appoint a Chilean bishop suspected of protecting a paedophile priest has alarmed the Vatican's own child protection watchdog, its members told AFP.

Several members of the new commission set up by the pope to stamp out child abuse in the Catholic Church expressed their shock at the decision, with pressure building up for the decision to be overturned.

Juan Barros, who took up his post as Bishop of Osorno last Saturday, has denied that he knew about the abuse committed by Fernando Karadima, once an influential figure within the Chilean church.

Commission member French child psychiatrist Catherine Bonnet told AFP Friday that speaking personally she was "worried" by the appointment.

"While the commission cannot intervene in individual cases, I want to meet Cardinal Sean O'Malley (the American president of the commission) and the other members to see how we can pass our anxieties on to Pope Francis," she added.

Another source said that the pope may have been badly advised.

British commission member Peter Saunders, founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, told the US National Catholic Reporter that "one of two of us are suggesting we go to Rome to talk with the pope."

The pope had pledged to crack down hard on the culture of cover up within the Church, and had personally taken up the cases of abuse victims in Spain and Italy recently.

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Somalia hotel siege ends, 14 dead

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Blood spattered utensils, bullet-pocked walls and overturned chairs mark the reception area of a prominent hotel in the Somali capital following an attack by Islamic extremists that killed at least 24, including six attackers.

Somali special forces stood over three bloodied bodies of the alleged attackers after officials declared they have full control of the Maka Al-Mukarramah Hotel Saturday, more than 12 hours after gunmen, believed to be six in number, from the Islamic rebel group al-Shabab stormed into the hotel.

The gunfire has stopped and security agents have gone through the whole building, said senior police officer Capt. Mohamed Hussein. He had earlier said the gunmen were believed to have occupied the third and fourth floors of the hotel in the capital Mogadishu.

"The operation has ended. We have taken full control of the hotel," Hussein said.

Eighteen people were killed in the attack, including one solider, said Hussein. At least 28 were wounded, according to Hussein Ali, an official of Mogadishu's ambulance service.

Officials claimed to have killed six attackers but only displayed the bodies of three and did not give the location of the bodies of the other attackers.

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Somali soldiers take position after a bomb that was detonated at the gate of one of Mogadishu's …

Al-Shabab claimed some of the gunmen involved in the attack escaped, in a statement released Saturday. The group vowed to carry out more attacks.

Somalia's ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Yusuf Bari-Bari was among those killed in the attack, said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group that has carried out many attacks in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the assault on the hotel, which is popular with Somali government officials and foreigners.

Al-Shabab controlled much of Mogadishu between 2007 and 2011, but was pushed out of Somalia's capital and other major cities by African Union forces.

The attack started around 4 p.m. Friday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car at the gate of the hotel. Gunmen then quickly moved in.

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Somalis walk past a dead civilian outside the hotel who was killed after a car bomb that was detonat …

Hours later, the militants were still holed up in the hotel's dark corridors and rooms. Sporadic gunfire could be heard, but it appeared that the security forces waited until daybreak before trying again to dislodge the militants.

The attack was condemned by the African Union mission to Somalia in which troops from several African countries support Somalia's weak government.

"Our message to the perpetrators of this inhuman act is, that their action will not dampen our spirit for the common good of Somalia, but will further strengthen us to work even harder to defeat the enemy of peace and development, with the aim of rebuilding a stronger and stable Somalia," said Ambassador Maman S. Sidikou, the African Union's representative in Somalia.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf praised the Somali forces "for their response to this terrorist attack" and pledged support for the government's efforts to "bring stability, security, and prosperity to all Somalis."

Al-Shabab frequently carries out suicide bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks in Mogadishu, the seat of Somalia's Western-backed government, often targeting government troops, lawmakers and foreigners.

Despite major setbacks in 2014, al-Shabab continues to wage a deadly insurgency against Somalia's government and remains a threat in the East African region.

The group has carried out attacks in neighboring countries, including Kenya, whose military is part of the African Union troops bolstering Somalia's weak government from al-Shabab insurgency.

At least 67 people were killed in a September 2013 attack by al-Shabab on a mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

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Yemen president berates Iran "puppets" at Arab summit opening

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Yemen's embattled president on Saturday called Shiite rebels who forced him to flee the country "puppets of Iran," directly blaming the Islamic Republic for the chaos there and demanding airstrikes against rebel positions continue until they surrender.

Egypt's president supported the creation a regional Arab military force and a Gulf diplomat warned that Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen could go on for months, raising the specter of a regional conflict pitting Sunni Arab nations against Shiite power Iran.

The comments by Arab leaders including Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled his country only days earlier, came at an Arab summit largely focusing on the chaos there caused by the advance of the rebels, known as Houthis.

Leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait obliquely referenced Iran earlier at the summit held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. They blamed the Persian country for meddling in the affairs of Arab nations, with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi saying, without mentioning Iran by name, that it was "spreading its ailment in the body."

"This (Arab) nation, in its darkest hour, had never faced a challenge to its existence and a threat to its identity like the one it's facing now," el-Sissi said. "This threatens our national security and (we) cannot ignore its consequences for the Arab identity."

Hadi directly challenged Iran in his remarks and called for his supporters to rise up in peaceful protest against the Houthis.

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Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, walk on the tarmac of the Sanaa International Airport in Sanaa, Yem …

"I say to the puppets of Iran, its toys and those who support it, you have destroyed Yemen with your political adolescence and by manufacturing domestic and regional crises," Hadi said.

Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though the Islamic Republic has provided humanitarian and other aid.

Meanwhile, a news report on the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television station referred to Hadi as a "puppet" of Saudi Arabia.

Ali al-Emad, a senior official of the Houthi movement's political arm, Ansar Allah, told the station that nothing said at the summit came as a surprise. Saudi Arabia, he claimed, was taking charge of the Yemen issue, deciding alone what needed to be done.

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A Shiite rebel, known as Houthi, wearing an army uniform, stands guard in front of the international …

"We knew from day one that we are facing regimes that are allies, agents or toys of foreign powers," he said. "Yemen will prove to the world that the weak will triumph at the end."

Hadi also said airstrikes launched by Saudi Arabia and its allies against the Houthis must not stop before the rebels surrender and return medium and heavy weapons they looted from army depots across much of the country. Saudi Arabia's monarch, King Salman, earlier pledged that the military campaign in Yemen would not stop until security and stability are restored.

Saudi warplanes carried out dozens of raids on military sites across the country overnight and into Saturday morning, striking targets in and around Sanaa, Marib, Dhamar, Lahj and other areas, security officials said.

Yemeni military officials said an explosion rocked the Jabal al-Hadid military camp in Aden that houses a weapons depot and had been taken by forces loyal to Yemen's former leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, killing and wounding several people. From the city center, explosions and smoke could be seen rising from the site, and security officials said nine people were killed in the strike, while 150 were injured.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Security officials speaking anonymously for the same reasons said that three people were killed in different areas of Aden on Saturday.

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Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, wearing an army uniform, ride on an armed truck to patrol the Sanaa …

The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television station said "Saudi and American aggression" had targeted the gas company in Saada province, causing a raging fire, and two other areas. Saada, north of Sanaa, is the birthplace of the Houthi movement and is a rebel stronghold.

It played footage of guerrillas and soldiers firing assault rifles and heavy weapons to the tune of martial music throughout the day. Voices chanted Houthi slogans cursing America and Israel as images of anti-government demonstrations were broadcast, occasionally showing Hadi shaking the hand of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The station's news broadcasts showed charred, mangled bodies pulled from the rubble of buildings hit by airstrikes, and at one point showed clips of the leader of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, condemning the Saudi-led intervention.

Hadi fled Yemen earlier this week, making his way to Saudi Arabia after leaving the southern coastal city of Aden in the face of a push into southern Yemen by the Houthis and their allies, including security forces loyal to Saleh.

At the summit, El-Sissi also endorsed a resolution adopted by Arab foreign ministers on Thursday for the creation of an Arab military force, saying the Arab world was currently facing unprecedented threats. He also described the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen as "inevitable."

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In this photo provided by Egypt's state news agency MENA, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sis …

Already, some backers of Iran have begun to step away from supporting it over Yemen. On Saturday, the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, issued a statement offering support for Hadi, as opposed to the rebels.

A Gulf diplomatic official, meanwhile, said that the airstrikes campaign was planned to last for one month, but that coalition nations were prepared for the probability of going on for up to six months.

"Ultimately the whole idea is to achieve the political objective, which is the return of legitimacy of Yemen and a return to the political process," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to brief journalists by name.

The official also claimed that around 5,000 Iranian, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militiamen were on the ground in Yemen supporting the Houthis. They are trainers, group leaders and instructors, he added. His claim could not be independently corroborated.

Around six weeks ago, he said, satellite imagery from Yemen showed the repositioning of Scud missiles toward Saudi Arabia. Airstrikes have so far destroyed 21 Scud missiles, he said.

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Yemeni President Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi, center, attends a meeting of Arab heads of state as Sudan …

Later in the day, a spokesman for the coalition air campaign said that several groups of Houthis were moving toward the Saudi border, but that the coalition would never allow them to cross.

"We shall target any kind of grouping here. We will not allow the Houthi militias to bring their forces near the southern borders of Saudi Arabia," Ahmed Asiri told reporters in Riyadh.

The Saudi Press Agency also reported Saturday that its navy had evacuated 86 diplomats and others from Aden on Wednesday. It did not identify the nationalities of all those moved to safety, though it said diplomats from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar were on hand Saturday when those evacuated arrived at a Jiddah naval base.

Pakistan also announced Saturday it had two planes standing by to evacuate its citizens. Sanaa airport officials said five aircraft evacuated U.N. personnel for the second day in a row, flying them to Djibouti and Ethiopia.

Late in the evening, Saleh gave an address broadcast on Yemen Today television, blaming the country's problems since 2011 on Hadi, urging the coalition to stop their airstrikes, and calling for new elections in which he promised "neither me nor my relatives will run."

"The solution to the problem is peaceful, you cannot resolve it with strikes," said Saleh, who ruled Yemen for close to 40 years and was grooming his son, army officer Ahmed, to succeed him.

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Al-Haj reported from Sanaa, Yemen. Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Fares Akram in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Sarah El Deeb and Brian Rohan in Cairo contributed to this report.