At least seven people have been killed and 40 wounded after a strike hit shops at a crowded market in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province, according to health authorities in the Houthi-controlled administration.

The strike occurred on Sunday at Mawiya junction, an area where roads connecting several parts of Taiz converge. The wounded included children, although authorities have not released a detailed breakdown of the casualties or identified all those killed.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government later said its forces had attacked a Houthi military camp and vehicles at the same junction. Military officials supporting the government claimed that Houthi fighters had recently established the position close to the market.

Neither account has been independently verified. It also remains unclear what weapon was used, how close the alleged military site was to the shops or whether the civilian casualties resulted from a direct strike on the market or an attack against the nearby position.

The incident occurred as government forces expanded air and ground operations across Taiz in an attempt to halt recent Houthi advances. Military operations were reported in at least five areas of the province over the preceding 24 hours, targeting weapons sites, ammunition stores, vehicles and gatherings of fighters.

Government forces said dozens of Houthi fighters and several field commanders had been killed or wounded. They also claimed to have disrupted attempted infiltrations and captured elevated positions overlooking important supply routes. The Houthis have not confirmed those losses.

Taiz has remained divided between the two sides for much of Yemen’s civil war. Government-aligned forces control most of the city, while the Houthis hold surrounding districts and important routes. The province has repeatedly experienced shelling, sieges and shortages since the conflict began.

The latest fighting follows significant Houthi territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The group has captured the port city of Mocha and expanded its presence around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.

Control of territory overlooking the strait would give the Houthis greater ability to threaten commercial and energy shipping moving between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The group has also launched missiles and drones towards Saudi Arabia, while Riyadh continues to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

More than 146,000 people have reportedly been displaced since large-scale fighting resumed in July, with many uprooted from Taiz and neighbouring coastal areas. Thousands have crossed the Red Sea to Djibouti, while humanitarian agencies warn that displacement sites lack adequate food, shelter and medical care.

The renewed conflict is worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis. More than 22 million Yemenis require humanitarian assistance, while approximately 18.3 million face acute food insecurity and 2.2 million children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and forced the government to flee. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year. A United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 reduced cross-border attacks and large-scale fighting, but it did not produce a permanent political settlement.

The Mawiya market strike illustrates the danger created when military positions and civilian businesses exist in close proximity. Investigators have yet to establish the precise circumstances of the attack, but the civilian casualties show that Yemen’s return to intensive warfare is once again placing markets, homes and public roads inside the battlefield.