Saudi soldier killed, 11 injured in clashes with gunmen (Roundup)

Nov 4, 2009, 11:12 GMT

Riyadh/Sanaa - One Saudi soldier was killed and 11 injured when Saudi security forces clashed with unknown gunmen 'who infiltrated into the kingdom', the official Saudi Press Agency said Wednesday.

The clashes took place Tuesday morning when gunmen were spotted near al-Dokhan mountain, in Jazan region, near the borders with Yemen, an unidentified official was quoted by SPA as saying.

He added that the 'infiltrators opened fire on Saudi security forces using various weapons'.

Later on Wednesday, the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, said that Saudi border guards attacked a car on the Yemeni side and that a Shiite fighter was killed and another injured in a subsequent clash.

'Saudi border guards opened fire at a car belongs to us,' the group said in an e-mailed statement. 'The Saudi army then began to fire intensively at the Yemeni territory.'

'We advise the Saudi regime again not to intervene in the ongoing war (between rebels and Yemeni troops) and not to involve in a direct confrontation with us,' added the statement.

The group, fighting the national army in north-western Yemen, accused Saudi Arabia earlier this week of allowing Yemeni forces to use its territories as a launchpad for attacking their positions on the border.

Houthis have frequently accused Saudi Arabia of facilitating the Yemeni army's operation against their bases on the border.