Yemen rebels down Saudi chopper: Report

Yemeni Shi’ite rebels, engaged in on-off border clashes with Saudi forces, said on Saturday they had downed a Saudi Apache helicopter amid Saudi air raids they said had killed at least 15 villagers.

Dubai: Yemeni Shi’ite rebels, engaged in on-off border clashes with Saudi forces, said on Saturday they had downed a Saudi Apache helicopter amid Saudi air raids they said had killed at least 15 villagers.
The helicopter was shot down yesterday during a "Saudi advance towards Jebel al-Doud," rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said.

He said the rebels fired "special machine guns" at the aircraft which was seen "on fire in the air before it crashed near Al-Khouba" on the border.

Saudi military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The advance lasted for an hour, and stopped following the downing of the helicopter, Abdul Salam said, adding that shelling continued over night targeting the surrounding border areas.

He said that air raids "striking as far as 100 kilometres or more inside Yemeni territory" killed at least 15 civilians in the Razeh, Shaza and Haydan areas.

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it had regained control of the small Saudi village of al-Jabiri which was occupied by the rebels after fighting broke out on the border in November.

PTI

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