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RIYADH: Houthi militants fired a missile at the Arab coalition’s headquarters in the city of Marib on Wednesday during a visit by the Yemeni defense minister, killing seven Yemeni soldiers and injuring at least 12, local officials said.
The base, in Sahn Al-Gin district, is the main military facility overseeing a ground offensive aimed at recapturing the capital Sanaa, controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militia since 2014, which lies 120 km (75 miles) to the west of Marib.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Arab coalition fighting to restore the legitimate Yemeni government and who have been battling the Houthis in Yemen for more than four years.
But Saudi-owned news channel Al Arabiya said a high-ranking official was among those killed.
Military sources told Al Arabiya that the “Iran-backed Houthi militia fired two missiles from Jabal Haylan, located about 70 km east of Sanaa.”
Mohammed Al-Maqdishi, the defense minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, and Saudi military officers were in the compound at the time, the officials said.
A military official, on condition of anonymity, said the Houthis carried out Wednesday’s attack.
The official told AFP the casualty toll was confirmed by a medic at Marib hospital and included two senior officers.
However, no group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The uptick in violence follows weeks of relative calm in the war between the internationally-recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
Separately, Wadah Dobish, a spokesman for the government’s forces, says they repelled an attack by Houthi militants south of the key port city of Hodeida on Tuesday. Dobish says four Houthi fighters were killed.
Last week, Houthi forces fired missiles and drones at the Red Sea port city of Al-Mokha, killing eight people, among them four civilians, and damaging a hospital.
(With AP and Reuters)