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Yemeni rebels says downed Saudi-led coalition fighter jet

Xinhua, May 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Monday that they downed a fighter jet of a Saudi-led coalition in northern Yemen.

The Houthi-run al-Masira TV channel showed footage of what it said were the wreckage of the jet and parts of the pilot's body.

It said the tribal fighters loyal to the group shot down the warplane in Yemeni province of Saada near the southern border of Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the day, Morocco said that one of its warplanes went missing during a Saudi-led airstrike on against the Iran-allied Yemeni Houthi group.

A Moroccan army statement said the fighter jet went missing at about 6 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) Sunday, and that the pilot of another jet said he didn't see the pilot of the missing fighter eject.

Saudi Arabia, along with eight other Arab states, have been bombing the Houthi group and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26, aiming to reinstate the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee the country.

The death toll from the battles between Houthis and Hadi's supporters, as well as the airstrikes, have exceeded 1,200, while more than 3,000 people were wounded across the country, according to statistics released by the Yemeni government.

Hundreds of thousands of people, especially in the southern regions, fled their homes after Houthi fighters entered southern provinces to fight supporters of Hadi.

On Sunday, the Houthi group and the army welcomed a Saudi proposal for a five-day ceasefire to allow aid to be delivered to the country, as battles and airstrikes have caused a severe humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country.

Saudi-led coalition forces continued its airstrikes overnight on Yemen's capital of Sanaa and the northern Saada province, the stronghold of the Houthi group. Endit