Two pilots die in chopper crash near Yemen

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis on Sunday said two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed near the Yemen border, after the Iran-backed group said it shot the aircraft down.

The coalition blamed a "technical malfunction" for the incident, which inflicted its first military fatalities since the long-running war with the Houthis reignited in July.

The incident comes a week after strikes by the Iran-backed group killed 13 people at Riyadh's international airport, the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.

"An AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter belonging to the Ministry of National Guard crashed inside Saudi territory in Najran Region due to a technical malfunction," coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

"The accident resulted in the martyrdom of its aircrew, consisting of two officers."

Late on Saturday, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had "downed an Apache helicopter belonging to the Saudi enemy" in the same area.

After an uneasy, four-year truce, Yemen's conflict has surged back to life and intensified when the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.

The Houthis have hit Saudi targets including tankers in the Red Sea, oil facilities and Riyadh's King Khalid International airport.

The Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government has launched repeated air raids on Houthi territory.

The coalition said overnight that it intercepted two drones in the Riyadh area and a third over the oil-rich Eastern Province. Saudi authorities had earlier issued a threat alert in the capital.

Two ballistic missiles "launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Khamis Mushait" were intercepted in the kingdom's south, the coalition added.

On Saturday, the Houthis reported that Saudi strikes killed 12 people in Yemen, including three children.

The Houthis have declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and captured territory around the Bab al-Mandab strait, the Red Sea chokepoint and vital export route for Saudi oil since Iran blockaded the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz.