SANAA / ADEN, Yemen: Yemeni loyalist forces recaptured a southern provincial capital from Houthi rebels and their allies Sunday as well as a coastal town as they pressed an advance from second city Aden.

Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, had been held by troops of the renegade 15th Brigade which remains loyal to ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh who is allied with the Houthi rebels.

Troops entered Zinjibar, some 50 kilometers east of Aden, after overrunning the brigade’s barracks with support from Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, military sources said.

They deployed tanks to secure the city and then also retook the coastal town of Shaqra with “little resistance” from rebel forces, a military source said.

Zinjibar residents forced out by fighting that devastated their city returned Sunday to take stock of the damage, a relief official said.

But many, including loyalist fighters, lost their lives to mines planted by the rebels before they withdrew.

At least 19 people were killed and 163 wounded Saturday and Sunday in and around Zinjibar, Aden health chief Al-Khader Laswar told AFP.

Similar explosions in Aden have reportedly killed dozens of civilians and wounded hundreds.

Zinjibar is the third southern provincial capital from which the rebels have been driven out since loyalists secured Aden in mid-July and Lahej provincial capital Al-Houta Aug. 4.

A friendly fire incident Saturday in which a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit the pro-government fighters while traveling on a coastal road toward Zinjibar, killed at least 20, officials said.

Military sources said the southern province of Dhale was also now controlled by so-called Popular Resistance fighters loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi.

Saudi Arabia has provided training and equipment to loyalist forces, and earlier this month reportedly deployed hundreds of ground troops to Aden.

The recapture of Zinjibar came three days after tribal and military sources said Saudi Arabia sent tanks, armored vehicles and personnel carriers to back the loyalist forces.

Hundreds of Yemeni soldiers trained in the kingdom were also sent to bolster Hadi’s forces, the sources said Thursday.

Retaking Zinjibar is expected to strengthen the position of loyalist forces as they expand their zone of control in southern Yemen and could pave the way for an attempt to pursue rebels further north.

Also Sunday, Houthi-linked gunmen abducted 10 members of the Islamist Al-Islah party in the city, including a former government minister and women, relatives said. Their claims came as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the Old City of Sanaa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

ICRC’s Peter Maurer arrived in Sanaa Saturday on a three-day mission. After touring damaged buildings and a hospital, Maurer told reporters he had come to Yemen for a “view on the impact of the recent warfare.”

Many of the city’s ancient storied houses that rise like modern-day skyscrapers were damaged in fighting and by Saudi-led airstrikes, leaving residents homeless. “It’s an illustration of just one element of how people are affected by the warfare,” Maurer said.

The ICRC said Maurer would meet leading officials, without identifying them. Rebel officials said he would meet Houthi leaders and allies.