Sunday, Nov 22, 2009

(Adds Saudi air attacks, report of Huthi plot to take over port.)

DUBAI (AFP)--Three Saudi soldiers were killed and an unidentified number of others wounded in an attack by Yemeni "infiltrators," a Saudi newspaper reported Sunday.

The soldiers died Saturday in an attack by "dozens" of infiltrators in the Jebel Rumayh area on the Yemeni border, the daily Asharq Al-Awsat said, quoting military sources.

The sources said Saudi forces "inflicted heavy losses in equipment and lives on the infiltrators," according to the report.

Asharq Al-Awsat also quoted medical sources at the Samatah Hospital as saying it received "patients" from the front.

Yemeni Shiite rebels, known as Zaidis or Huthis, said in a statement late Saturday they had repelled two Saudi attacks into Yemen.

"Today, two incursions into Yemen by the Saudi army were repulsed near the Jebel Rumayh region, and a number of aggressors were killed" and others captured, the statement said.

The attacks came after Saudi Arabia carried out the heaviest aircraft and missile bombardment since its entry into the conflict, it said, adding Hidan, Razah, Shedah and Malahidhd were bombed.

"We call on Saudi Arabia to stop its unjustified aggression on Yemen," the statement said.

Asharq Al-Awsat quoted military sources as saying Saudi aircraft continued to carry out strikes in the Jebel Rumayh region aimed at destroying equipment the Huthis had captured from Yemen and were now using against Saudi Arabia.

The sources said the Saudi navy foiled a Huthi "plot" to seize the northern Yemeni port of Midi. Sources referred to what they said were Huthi slogans, such as "Ramadan in Midi" and "Eid al-Fitr in Midi," as evidence of the rebels' intentions regarding the port, the report said.

On Nov. 15, a Saudi government adviser told AFP the Saudi navy had been closely patrolling the Yemeni port of Midi for several days aiming to cut off a key supply route for the rebels.

Saudi forces entered the conflict Nov. 4 after rebels killed a border guard and occupied two small villages inside Saudi territory the previous day.

U.N. children's agency UNICEF says 240 Saudi villages have been evacuated and 50 schools closed to keep local residents away from the fighting.

Saudi Arabia has said the air strikes and shelling will continue until the rebels withdraw dozens of kilometers from the Saudi-Yemeni border.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

22-11-09 1424GMT