Bahraini jet fighting in Yemen crashes in Saudi Arabia

Pilot survives after plane suffered technical fault

The jet was taking part in the military campaign in Yemen (Reuters)

A Bahraini F-16 jet taking part in a mostly Gulf Arab military campaign in Yemen has crashed in southern Saudi Arabia, according to a coalition statement on the Saudi state news agency.

The pilot survived after the plane suffered a technical fault and came down in the Jizan region, the statement added, without going into further detail.

Bahrain has taken part in the Saudi-led coalition bombing the Iran-allied Houthi movement for nine months, and scores of ground forces from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been killed since the start of the conflict.

In a separate incident, Bahrain's official news agency BNA reported on Tuesday that three of its servicemen were killed along Saudi Arabia's southern border in an accident, without providing any more details.

Mostly Gulf Arab forces intervened in a civil war in Yemen on March 26 after the Houthis forced its government into exile and appeared poised to seize the whole country.

The conflict that followed saw Gulf and pro-government ground forces claw back some strategic territory, but has left almost 6,000 people dead and plunged the already impoverished country into a humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia and its allies view the Houthis as a proxy for Iranian power in the Arab world - something the Islamic Republic and the Houthis deny.

Reuters