Sanaa, Sep 17 (IANS): At least 65 members of Yemen's Shia Houthi rebel movement were killed Wednesday in a military airstrike in the country's troubled north, a media report said.

The rebels were killed in the northern province of Jawf after Yemeni air force hit the house of a pro-government tribal leader which was stormed and held by the rebels, Press TV reported.

Thousands of Houthis have been staging protests in Sanaa for nearly a month with the Shia rebels accusing the government of corruption and demanding its resignation.

On Monday, the Houthi leaders said they had suspended their participation in talks with the government over what they called foreign intervention in the negotiations.

Rupert Colville, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has urged Yemeni officials to probe the recent killing of protesters in the country’s capital.

“As Yemen faces various internal challenges, it is more crucial than ever that violations of international human rights law are not swept under the carpet,” a media report quoted Colville as saying.

Shia Houthis have been holding demonstrations since Aug 20 in a bid to press the government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to quit. They say the government is corrupt and marginalises the country’s Shia community.

The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular revolution that forced former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in February 2012.