Child killed in attack in Saudi border village

A child was killed and three others injured in southern Saudi Arabia today when missiles fired from Yemen fell in villages in the kingdom’s Jizan province, Saudi media has reported.

The official Saudi press agency quoted defence spokesman Yahya Al-Qahtani as saying that the missiles fell in residential areas in the border region of Al-Tuwal.

He did not, however, mention whether the victims were Saudi nationals.

Friday’s fatality is the third in Saudi Arabia since the end of a five-day humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen on Sunday.

Since 25 March, Yemen has been pounded by airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition established to fight Yemen’s formidable Shia Houthi militant group.

Saudi Arabia says it launched its campaign in response to appeals by Yemen’s embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for help against the Houthis, whose growing influence in the fractious country has alarmed the predominantly Sunni-Muslim Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Shia Iran of backing Yemen’s Houthi insurgency.