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Rockets from Yemen kill Saudi border guard

Fire erupts at Aden's oil refinery after Shia Houthi militia shelled the nearby port to halt aid ship
Yemeni fighters of the southern separatist movement and firefighters attempt to extinguish a flame at an oil refinery in the port city of Aden on June 27, 2015 (AFP)

A Saudi soldier was killed in a rocket attack on the kingdom's border with Yemen, where Riyadh is leading an air war against Iran-backed rebels, the interior ministry said.

The rocket fire in the southern city of Jazan killed Faisal Mohammed Belqasem Maqaadi and wounded another soldier, an interior ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency late on Saturday.

It did not specify the source of the fire but cross-border shelling by Yemeni Ansarallah (Houthi) militia has become common since Riyadh launched an air campaign against them in late March.

At least 44 people, civilians and troops, have now lost their lives in shelling and skirmishes along the Saudi side of the border since the campaign began.

Last week, three Saudi soldiers and an Emirati were killed in the border area.

'Flames raging'

Fire erupted at Aden's oil refinery on Saturday when Shia Houthi militia shelled the nearby port to prevent a Qatari ship carrying aid for Yemen's devastated second city from docking, officials told AFP.

"The rebels fired artillery rounds at the area and one hit an oil tank at the refinery, sparking a fire," said an official at the Aden Refinery Company.

An AFP reporter saw flames raging as pillars of smoke billowed into the skies over the southern city.

A government official told AFP the Houthi militiamen had targeted a Qatari vessel carrying food supplies from Djibouti, a hub for Yemen-bound humanitarian aid, and that the attack forced it to turn back.

Both the port and the refinery in Aden's Buraiqa district are controlled by pro-government fighters, and the area has seen fierce clashes between rival forces.

The refinery has not been receiving any oil via the port, but it still has 1.2 million tonnes of crude in storage and also gas tanks.

Houthi militiamen who overran the capital Sanaa in September have since expanded their control to several other regions.

In March they advanced on Aden, where President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing to Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition began a bombing campaign against the militia and in support of Hadi in late March.

Coalition warplanes carried out "at least 15 air raids" across several parts of Aden on Saturday, a pro-Hadi military official said.

'Disease spreading'

More than 2,600 people have been killed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country since March, according to UN figures. Almost 80 percent of the population - 20 million people - need urgent humanitarian aid.

The situation is particularly serious in Aden, where residents complain of food and water shortages and health officials warn of disease spreading.

Earlier this month, a UN-chartered ship carrying humanitarian supplies bound for Yemen was targeted by shelling as it approached Aden.

In another southern province, Shabwa, tribesmen killed nine militiamen in an attack on a troop carrier on Saturday, a military source close to the Houthis told AFP.

Anti-government forces comprise both Houthi militiamen and renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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