The UN Security Council called Tuesday on all sides in war-torn Yemen to "de-escalate" and return to talks as the conflict there took an ominous turn with the killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"The members of the Security Council call all sides to de-escalate and to recommit and re-engage without preconditions in the UN-led political process to achieve a durable ceasefire," Japanese ambassador Koro Bessho, the council's president, said after a closed-door meeting on the situation.

Source: AFP