ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The pro-government Yemeni forces repelled three attacks launched by the Houthi fighters in the country's southwestern province of Taiz over the past 24 hours, killing four militants, a security official told Xinhua on Monday.

The local official said on condition of anonymity that after the foiled attacks, the Houthi group carried out drone strikes targeting residential neighborhoods and villages controlled by the government in Taiz.

He noted a surge in Houthi activity in recent days, marked by intensified infiltration attempts and attacks on sites of the pro-government forces in various areas of Taiz.

Elsewhere in Taiz, at least four children were critically injured in a shelling carried out by the Houthi group on Monday, in the western part of Taiz, according to the official.

Yemen has been in a state of uneasy calm since Oct. 2, 2022, when the government and the Houthi group failed to renew and expand a UN-brokered truce. ■