A soldier has been killed and another injured when a vehicle of Saudi border guards came under heavy gun fire near the kingdom's border with Yemen.
The Monday dawn attack took place while the border guards were on routine inspection missions in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern province of Jizan.
Suspected Yemeni smugglers opened fire on the border guards, who fired back. A Saudi soldier was killed and another wounded in the assault. The wounded was rushed to hospital. There were no immediate reports of casualties on the side of the assailants.
The Saudi troops seized 14 guns left behind by the smugglers at the site of the clash.
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said that it is contacting the Yemeni authorities in a bid to identify the attackers.
On April 9, two Saudi soldiers were killed in a clash with unidentified gunmen, who fired on them from across the border with Yemen.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said in a statement that the gunmen opened fire on the guards as they were patrolling in Dhahran al-Janoub in the southern Saudi province of Aseer.
Saudi Arabia’s long and porous border with Yemen is frequently crossed by smugglers as well as militants seeking to join al-Qaeda-affiliated groups operating inside the impoverished Arab nation.
The kingdom has reportedly resumed a project, abandoned in 2004, to build a three-meter (10-foot) high fence along the frontier.
