Saudi soldier killed near Yemen border

A Saudi soldier was killed in a cross-border firefight with Yemeni rebels, the interior ministry said Sunday.

A border post was attacked overnight by Houthi rebels, a spokesman said, adding that one soldier wounded in the exchange died before reaching hospital.

He was the latest of at least 111 Saudi soldiers and civilians to die in the country's south since the kingdom formed a coalition to battle Yemeni insurgents in March 2015.

Most Saudi casualties have been from retaliatory cross-border rocket attacks or combat, but there have also been deadly mine blasts in Jazan, in the country's southwest corner.

In Yemen itself, more than 7,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians, since March last year according to the United Nations.

A Yemeni military official said Sunday that five rebels were killed in a coalition air raid in the southern Shabwa province.

Also in Shabwa, three armed tribesman were killed in an ambush by fighters belonging to the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda.

Yemen's conflict has allowed militant groups including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to expand, mainly in the country's vast desert east.

Yemen president visits former Qaeda bastion

Meanwhile, President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi on Sunday visited the port city of Mukhalla, on Yemen's southeast coast, for the first time since loyalist forces retook it from militants.

Hadi and Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher met political and military officials from across Mukalla's Hadramawt province, the official said.

The president praised efforts in the province to "eradicate the forces of evil and terrorism" and bring "security and stability" back to Mukalla.

Quoted by the official news agency Saba, Hadi stressed the need to "tighten our ranks to meet the challenges we face," a reference to al-Qaeda fighters still active across the vast province.

Yemen's internationally recognised government has been based in the country's second city of Aden since it was retaken from Shia Houthi rebels last year.

Retaking Mukalla was facilitated by the intervention of Emirati special forces, members of the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadi's government.

A local official survived an assassination attempt on Sunday in Shibam, around 100km north of Mukalla, in an attack security sources blamed on al-Qaeda.

They said Faraj Neji survived an ambush but two of his guards were killed.

Loyalist forces have been struggling to secure territory taken by the Houthis since the summer of 2015.