Yemen minister rejects peace talks call from ex-president

LONDON, April 26 Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen on Sunday rejected a call for peace talks issued by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and said a Saudi-led military operation against Houthi militia had not ended.

"These calls are unacceptable after all of the destruction Ali Abdullah Saleh has caused. There can be no place for Saleh in any future political talks," Yaseen told a news conference in London.

Saleh, whose loyalists have been fighting alongside Iranian-allied Houthi rebels who toppled the central government, on Friday called on all Yemenis to return to political dialogue to find a way to end the country's spiralling conflict.

Yaseen was speaking after air raids, naval shelling and ground fighting shook Yemen on Sunday in some of the most widespread combat since the Saudi-led alliance intervened last month.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Andrew Osborn)