SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Pro-government forces have retaken the last military base in the country's south that was held by Shiite rebels known as Houthis, Saudi-backed Yemeni officials said Friday.

The capture of Labouza base is the latest victory for the pro-government forces that have been pushing north in the province of Lahj, after routing the rebels from the coastal city of Aden recently.

Labouza lies north of the strategic al-Anad base, which fell to Yemeni troops on Monday. The officials gave no casualty figures for the latest fighting.

The previous rounds of fighting in Lahj have left areas in the province with dozens of decomposing rebel bodies littering the streets, said Lahj resident Ahmed Naguib.

The gains by the pro-government forces have been made possible with the help of a Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition that has been targeting the Iran-backed Houthis and their allies since March in an airstrikes campaign.

In the country's east, hundreds of Saudi-trained Yemeni troops were marching toward the central oil-rich province of Marib, where Houthis maintain a strong presence, Yemeni army spokesman Ali al-Bakali said. The Yemeni troops were trained in a military camp in the neighboring Saudi town of al-Sharurah.

Meanwhile, in Aden, humanitarian aid has flooded local markets, officials said, with one blaming the "aid leak" on the embattled government's mismanagement and corruption.

"They are selling oil and flour that has a 'not for sale' on it in the street," said Shahir al-Araj, a resident of Aden's most populous neighborhood, al-Shiekh Othman.

The Houthi's media center said Friday a delegation of rebel leaders left the rebel-held capital of Sanaa in the morning to Oman, where negotiations have been attempted in the past.

The purpose of the visit, Houthi officials said, is to discuss the possibility of ending the war and returning to the negotiating table with the exiled Yemeni government.

The Houthis and members of the party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh party will meet with U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Oman, officials from the exiled Riyadh-based Yemeni presidential office said. Houthi rebel officials and Saleh's party confirmed the program.

The U.N. envoy will then travel to Saudi Arabia before heading to New York to discuss the developments and efforts to end the conflict.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.

The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and troops loyal to Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

People hold umbrellas in heavy rain as Typhoon Soudelor approaches, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, August 7, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

By Michael Gold and Yimou Lee

TAIPEI/YILAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon battered Taiwan on Saturday with strong wind and torrential rain, cutting power to 3.62 million households as the death toll rose to six.

Four people were missing and 101 were injured, authorities said. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled and more than 9,900 people were evacuated from their homes.

Television footage trees uprooted and power poles toppled over, a moped being swept into the air by wind and shipping containers piled on top of each other at a port.

"The storm will weaken but we expect more rain, particularly in southern Taiwan," said Wang Shih-chien, an official with the island's Central Weather Bureau.

The storm made landfall early on the island's east-coast counties of Yilan and Hualien, bringing more than 1,000 mm (39 inches) of rain in mountainous areas and wind gusting up to 200 kph (124 mph).

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A woman holds her umbrella while walking against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan …

Although the eye of Typhoon Soudelor passed Taiwan, and was heading toward mainland China, rain was expected to lash the island until Sunday morning.

"This is one of the worst typhoons I have ever seen," said a sewage station engineer surnamed Jiang, who was inspecting pumping stations early on Saturday in eastern Taiwan.

"My car was shaking when I was driving. There are too many trees down, and I even saw six downed power poles."

In the capital, Taipei, large steel sheets and rods were blown off a half-constructed stadium and city authorities shut down much public transport.

"The metal roof of the house next door to mine was completely blown away," said resident Jack Lin. "I saw a car crushed to bits."

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People walk against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan in Taipei, August 7, 2015. RE …

Authorities issued flood and mudslide alerts and television showed mud trapping people and murky water nearly covering the roofs of cars in some areas.

Among the dead was one person who drowned in his flooded home and another who was killed by a falling tree.

Earlier, authorities said one adult and one child had drowned at sea, while a foreign worker was killed by a falling sign and a rescue worker was hit by a car and killed while clearing downed branches from a road.

Taiwan Power, the island's main power company, said 3.62 million households had lost power. While some supplies had been restored, 1.5 million households were still without power on Saturday afternoon, it said.

Fears that Soudelor would be as devastating as Typhoon Morakot in 2009 were unfounded. Morakot cut a path of destruction over southern Taiwan, leaving about 700 people dead or missing and causing $3 billion worth of damage.

The Tropical Storm Risk website downgraded the typhoon to a category 1 storm by Saturday afternoon, on a scale of 1 to 5, and indicated it could weaken as it moves toward the Chinese province of Fujian, which it is due to hit late on Saturday.

Authorities there have evacuated people on the coast and begun cancelling flights and trains. Fujian has issued its highest typhoon alert, media reported.

Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea and Pacific, picking up strength from warm waters but losing it over land.

(Additional reporting by Taipei newsroom; Writing by J.R. Wu; Editing by Robert Birsel)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A 21-year-old Saudi man carried out an Islamic State-claimed suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound that killed 15 people, the Interior Ministry said Saturday, the latest citizen blamed in a wave of extremist violence gripping the kingdom.

The ministry said Youssef al-Suleiman carried out the attack on the police compound in the city of Abha, the provincial capital of Asir, just after the Islamic State group released a still image of the man and an audio recording purportedly from him. They identified the bomber as Abu Sinan al-Najdi and the audio included a warning that Saudi rulers and troops "will not enjoy peace" for taking part in the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

The troops killed in Thursday's blast belonged to an elite counter-terrorism force. The Interior Ministry on Saturday identified 11 of those killed belonging to the force, while four were Bangladeshi workers.

Hours after Thursday's bombing, a previously unheard of Islamic State affiliate, which calls itself Hijaz Province of the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The kingdom had for years quietly allowed thousands of Saudis to leave the country to join militant groups fighting in Iraq and Syria, until the late King Abdullah last year decreed that fighting abroad was illegal. A wave of Islamic State group attacks has hit the kingdom in recent months, many carried out by Saudi citizens.

The last major attack against Saudi security forces was in April 2004, in the midst of Saudi Arabia's battle against al-Qaida, when a car bombing hit an Interior Ministry building in Riyadh, killing five people.

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Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contribute

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