Riyadh: A Saudi soldier has been killed in a barrage of mortar and other fire along the border with Yemen, the interior ministry said on Monday.
The soldier is the eighth to die since warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition on March 26 began air strikes in Yemen to stop a southern advance by Iran-backed Al Houthi militiamen.
The air campaign has sparked exchanges of fire along the border region between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, where all the kingdom’s casualties have occurred.
Army troops and members of the Border Guards force “were subjected to heavy shooting and mortar shells from inside the Yemeni border” at 11pm on Sunday in Saudi Arabia’s Najran region, the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing the interior ministry spokesman.
“The Saudi side responded and the situation was brought under control,” the spokesman said, adding that two other security personnel were wounded and taken to hospital.
Saudi Arabia has reinforced the border with artillery, tanks and hilltop lookout posts to block the incursion of Al Houthis from their traditional highland stronghold just over the border.
The United Nations says hundreds of people have died in Yemen, where the rebels are allied with army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
They are fighting loyalists of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the Al Houthis’ advance for Riyadh last month.
