SANAA: A landmine explosion in Yemen's Northern Province of Saada, a bastion of the Houthi militia, killed nine soldiers, according to a military officer. "An anti-vehicle landmine set before by the Houthi rebel group in Albuqa in Saada struck a military patrol of pro-government forces," the spokesman said.
According to him, the landmine explosion damaged the military vehicle and killed at least nine soldiers on the spot. Hundreds of landmines and various forms of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had lately been laid by the Houthi militia near Saada, he claimed. The Houthis surrounded their main stronghold with large fields of landmines in an attempt to prevent Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces from approaching their bastions.
According to previous reports from several humanitarian organisations, Yemen has become one of the world's largest landmine battlefields since World War II. Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern Yemeni provinces and drove President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government out of the capital Sanaa.
In March 2015, the Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen's conflict to support Hadi's government.
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