At least 43 people were killed in heavy fighting in Yemen overnight and on Wednesday between supporters of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the country's dominant Houthi group, residents, tribal and medical sources said.

The clashes erupted ahead of U.N.-sponsored talks in Geneva next week aimed at ending a conflict that has drawn in Saudi Arabia and some of its allies on one side and the Iranian-backed Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on the other.

Residents and fighters said fighters opposed to the Houthis advanced from a district of Aden known as 'workers' island' toward the port city's Houthi-held international airport. They said five local fighters and 11 Houthis had died in clashes.

Eight fighters from an anti-Houthi force called the Southern Resistance were also wounded in the clashes, they said.