Saudi air force hits Yemen rebels after border raid

[Naveed Yaseen]

RIYADH (November 06 2009): Saudi Arabia has launched heavy air strikes on rebels in northern Yemen and is moving troops nearer the border after a raid into its territory by the Shia insurgents, a Saudi government adviser said on Thursday. Saudi government officials said only that the air force had bombed Yemeni rebels who had seized a border area inside the kingdom, which they said had now been recaptured.

The officials said at least 40 rebels had been killed in the fighting. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has become increasingly anxious about instability and militancy in Yemen, which is also facing separatist sentiment in the south and a growing threat from resurgent al Qaeda fighters.

"As of yesterday late afternoon, Saudi air strikes began on their positions in northern Yemen," the adviser said, asking not to be named because operations were still going on. "There have been successive air strikes, very heavy bombardment of their positions, not just on the border, but on their main positions around Saada," he said, alluding to the capital of the northern province where the rebels have been battling Yemen government forces since August.

Al Jazeera television quoted a rebel spokesman as saying the Saudi air force had raided six locations inside Yemen. One position had been hit by about 100 missiles in one hour.

There was no official confirmation from Riyadh or the Yemeni capital Sanaa of cross-border Saudi air strikes, which the Saudi adviser said were co-ordinated with Yemen's armed forces. Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday a security officer was killed and 11 were wounded in an attack by gunmen who had crossed the border from Yemen - the first such reported incursion since the long-running Houthi revolt flared up again in August.

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