Yemen's Houthis claim new attack on Saudi airbase

Houthi fighters

SANAA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi militia said they hit King Khalid Airbase in Saudi Arabia's southwestern city of Khamis Mushait with a bomb-laden drone before dawn on Sunday.

"The hit was accurate," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

Meanwhile, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said "the Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed a Houthi bomb drone aimed at the kingdom's south."

This was the fifth reported attack aimed at Saudi cities in nearly a week.

Cross-border missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have escalated since February when the group began a major offensive against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government army to capture the oil-rich province of Marib in central Yemen.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.