YEMEN’S Houthi movement fought artillery battles against the army near the presidential palace in capital Sanaa today.

Despite a claimed ceasefire, officials said the Shi’ite rebels had seized the state news agency and TV station in a “step towards a coup.”

The fighting near the palace marked the biggest challenge yet to the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi by the Houthis, who seized the capital during their advance in September.

Information minister Nadia al-Saqqaf claimed that the presidential palace had come under “direct attack” in what she described as an attempted coup.

“If you attack the presidential palace … This is aggressive, of course it is an attempted coup,” she said.

The violence began in the early morning with witnesses saying heavy machine-gun fire could be heard as mortar bombs fell around the palace.

Civilians fled as black smoke rose over the palace. Medical sources said five people had been killed and more than 20 wounded. Final numbers were likely to be higher.

The Houthis’ Al-Maseera satellite TV channel accused the army of opening fire without reason on a militia patrol in the vicinity of the palace, sparking the violence.

But a Yemeni military official claimed that the Houthis provoked the attack by approaching military positions in the area and setting up their own checkpoints.

Mr Hadi doesn’t live at the palace but his home nearby was quickly surrounded by additional soldiers and tanks amid sporadic gunfire. Some reports claimed he had fled Sanaa in a helicopter.

Schools nearby also closed as rebels manned checkpoints throughout the city.

Ms Saqqaf claimed that Mr Hadi had agreed a ceasefire with the Houthis but gun battles later resumed, with more smoke pouring out of the palace, witnesses said.

The spark of the latest spasm of violence appears to be rooted in the Houthis’ rejection of a draft constitution, formally launched on Saturday, that divides the country into six regions.