The United Nations has called on Yemen to investigate allegations of unlawful killings and torture committed by its security forces in the north of the country, Press TV reported.
"The committee expresses its grave concern at allegations of extrajudicial killings by security forces and other serious human rights violations in different parts of the country, in particular the northern Saada province and the south of the country," the UN committee against torture said on Wednesday.
Allegations of torture in Yemen are seldom investigated or prosecuted and there appears to be "a climate of impunity" for the perpetrators, the UN body added.
According to the committee, political activists, journalists and rights defenders have been arrested arbitrarily and held incommunicado during fierce fighting between the army and Houthi fighters in the beleaguered north.
Yemen has launched an all-out offensive against Houthi fighters in August whom it accuses of seeking to restore an imamate system that was overthrown in 1962.
The Houthis, however, dismiss the accusations, saying they are only seeking to put an end to the government's discriminatory policies against them.
The offensive has so far left thousands of civilians displaced from their homes and scores of others killed.