'Two Saudi soldiers' killed on border with Yemen

Two Saudi soldiers have been killed and five wounded in fighting with Yemeni rebel "infiltrators" on the Saudi-Yemen border, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Saturday.

As Saudi forces stepped up efforts to contain the rebellion, the Saudi navy has in the past two days seized five ships bringing in more infiltrators, according to Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.

Saudi forces have located a number of Huthi bunkers and have also reported the use of booby-trapped animals by the rebels, the London-based newspaper said.

Asharq Al-Awsat said medical sources at Samtah hospital in the town of Jizan, near the Yemen border, told it that the bodies of two Saudi soldiers had been received on Friday while five wounded soldiers were admitted, one in serious condition.

The report named the soldiers killed as Ahmed bin Saeed al-Amri and Abdullah Kalandar al-Abdalli.

Saudi military sources said the injuries and deaths were caused during an attack by "infiltrators" from Yemen in the mountainous Jebel al-Dukhan region on the border, the newspaper added.

The deaths bring to nine the reported number of Saudis killed -- five soldiers and four civilians -- in fighting with Yemeni Zaidi rebels, also known as Huthis, since November 3.

Riyadh has said its forces have captured and killed numerous Yemeni rebels, but it has not been possible to confirm these statements.

The rebels say Saudi Arabia is continuing to shell Huthi positions with heavy artillery and has sent paratroopers and special forces to search the border area for rebel forces.

Al-Hayat said Saudi forces on Friday discovered several camouflaged Huthi trenches near the border, that the rebels used for ambushes.

The paper also said infiltrators have sent booby-trapped animals in the direction of Saudi positions many times over the last few days.

Al-Hayat quoted a source in the Saudi navy as saying that Saudi naval forces are positioned in the Red Sea with the aim of preventing weapons and infiltrators from being smuggled to the Huthi rebels.

Following the capture of the five ships, which contained no weapons, Saudi naval forces will continue operations "to protect the area" from Saudi Arabia "up to Bab al-Mandeb," the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

Bab al-Mandab is a strategic area off the far southern coast of Yemen between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Saudi forces have been shelling and bombing rebel positions in the 2,000-metre (6,600-foot) Jebel al-Dukhan mountain area straddling the border since November 4, after the rebels killed a border guard and occupied two small villages inside Saudi territory the previous day.

Riyadh has said the air strikes and shellings will continue until the rebels have withdrawn tens of kilometres (miles) from the Saudi-Yemeni border.

The assaults mark the first overt action by Saudi forces against the Huthis since Yemeni forces launched "Operation Scorched Earth" against the insurgents in the north of the country on August 11.

UN Children's Fund UNICEF said on Friday that 240 villages have reportedly been evacuated and more than 50 schools closed in Saudi Arabia after the conflict in North Yemen spilled over the border. Related article: Saudis huddle in tent cities.