Saudi security forces take part in a military parade.

A senior Saudi officer and another border guard were killed on Friday by heavy gunfire from the Yemen side of the border after their patrol vehicle was hit by a mine explosion, the ministry said.

Colonel Hassan Ghashoum Aqili and deputy sergeant Abdulrahman Mohammed Al-Hazazi died in the Jazan district, and four other guards were lightly wounded, the ministry said in a statement.

The interior ministry spokesman said that at 06:00 P.M on Friday their patrol vehicle struck a mine which exploded, and as a result, damaged vehicles patrolling the border district.

After backup arrived, they were then “exposed to heavy fire from different locations inside Yemeni territory,” sparking a firefight, the statement said.

Saudi Arabia has been fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen for six months and has led a coalition of Arab states on a military campaign to eject the group from the capital Sanaa and restore the government from its exile in Riyadh.

Several dozen soldiers from the kingdom have been killed in clashes along the country’s long, rugged border with Yemen, including a general last month.

Clashes between Houthi forces and those loyal to the exiled administration raged in the central desert province of Marib and the southwestern city of Taiz, where residents reported that the two sides dueled with heavy artillery in civilian areas.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led alliance launched air attacks on suspected Houthi positions on at least five provinces throughout the country and on Sanaa.

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