emeni political factions are due to meet Thursday for U.N.-brokered talks to try to resolve a political crisis, a day after a deadline set by the militia controlling Sanaa expired.

The resumption of political talks was announced late Wednesday by U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar following a four-hour meeting of several parties opposed to the Shiite Houthi militia.

The meeting failed to propose a solution to the crisis, but Benomar said talks would resume later Thursday.

By late afternoon there was no indication that the discussions were ready to start, but a source in Benomar's office said talks would begin in the evening, without giving further details.

On Sunday, the Houthis set a three-day deadline for the parties to resolve a power vacuum since President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah offered to resign last month.

The militia warned that failure by the political parties to do so would prompt it and its allies to decide the future course of events.

The Houthis seized most of Sanaa in September and have since extended their influence across the capital and into other areas of Yemen.

They seized the presidential palace and key government buildings on January 20, plunging the country deeper into crisis and prompting Hadi and his premier to tender their resignations.

"We will resume meetings" Thursday, Benomar told reporters late Wednesday.

"As a U.N. representative, I can only accept a peaceful solution based on dialogue and negotiations."

Representatives of the Sunni Al-Islah (reform) party - whose fighters have battled against the Houthis - and the socialist party of southern Yemen attended Wednesday's meeting.

The Houthi deadline was set in a statement issued at the end of a three-day meeting attended by the party of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh but boycotted by the other major political movements.

The announcement was loudly applauded by thousands who took part in the forum, including tribal chiefs and officers in military uniform.

The official Saba news agency reported that Benomar Wednesday met the ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and Iran "as part of his efforts to resolve the crisis."

Iran has long been accused of backing the Houthis, who descended from their base in Yemen's north to overrun Sanaa.

Their opponents have staged demonstrations against the Houthis in several cities under the slogan: "Revolt until the overthrow of the coup" forces.

Benomar has said Hadi and his Cabinet are effectively under house arrest, warning that violence could erupt at any time.

The crisis has raised fears that impoverished Yemen, which lies next to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, could become a failed state.

In another sign of their growing influence, Thursday Houthi gunmen stormed the offices of the independent newspaper Akhbar al-Youm in Sanaa, the director of the daily, Seif al-Hadheri, told AFP.

He said the gunmen were holding employees, but did not give further details.