SANAA, Yemen — Airstrikes from a Saudi-led coalition destroyed a key rebel encampment in the country’s capital on Sunday, rocking downtown with blasts that also hit a school, restaurants and embassies, according to witnesses and officials from both sides of the conflict.

The strikes wounded 17 people, including school children taking final exams, medical officials said. The Saudi and Emirati embassies were damaged, witnesses and security officials said.

Yemen is torn by fighting between the rebels known Houthis allied with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s coalition-backed forces, as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists.

Columns of grey smoke rose early Sunday morning from the downtown Houthi encampment, the headquarters of the Special Security Forces, where troops remain loyal to Saleh.

The Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition, made up mainly of Gulf nations, has been launching airstrikes against the rebels since March.

The security officials said warplanes also targeted weapons caches in the mountains of Noqum and Ayban, east and west of Sanaa.

All officials and witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters for fear of reprisals.

Meanwhile in the port city of Aden, hundreds of pro-government security forces rallied in front of the governor’s office demanding unpaid wages. The troops had defected from Saleh’s Special Security Forces in March and helped push the rebels out of the city.

The protesters said Yemen’s minister of interior and Aden city officials have not fulfilled promises to compensate them for the risks they took and their continued service.

“They just keep making promises but then give us nothing,” protester Moheeb Abdo told The Associated Press.

Aden officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

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