A soldier for Yemen’s government opened fire on Saudi troops as they exercised in eastern Yemen, killing two of them and wounding another, officials said Saturday, AP reported.
The assault in eastern Hadramawt province comes as a yearslong cease-fire between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi rebels largely has held despite the militants' ongoing attacks against shipping in the Red Sea corridor. While the Houthis did not claim the attack, at least one Houthi official praised it as being “the beginning and an indication of a harsh future awaiting the invaders.”
The attack on the Saudi troops took place Friday night in Seiyun, a city some 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Sanaa.
As troops worked out at a Saudi-led base there, the soldier opened fire, killing an officer and a noncommissioned officer, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said, citing a military statement.
Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the leader of Yemen's successionist Southern Transitional Council, identified the soldier who carried out the attack as belonging to the First Military Region, which is based out of Seiyun.
Authorities offered no motive for the attack.
Meanwhile, US warplanes carried out new strikes targeting Houthi positions that lasted into early Sunday morning.
The strikes come after the Houthi likely shot down yet-another American reconnaissance drone over the country.
bd-pratidin/GR
