Search
Close this search box.

Yemen: Houthi Rebels Say Falling Drone Kills Three

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Monday that three people were killed in the country’s capital when a drone aircraft crashed in a neighborhood after being shot down.

In a statement, the Houthis said that their air defense system downed the surveillance drone and that it belonged to the Saudi-led coalition with which they are at war. The Houthi claims could not be immediately verified.

A spokesman for the coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Video from the scene showed what appeared to be a damaged pilotless aircraft in a street surrounded by security forces and onlookers.

There is a truce in place in the war-torn country that is set to expire at the beginning of June. United Nations officials, who helped broker the cease-fire, have said they hoped it could be extended.

The truce is the first nationwide cease-fire in six years in Yemen’s civil war, which erupted in 2014. That year, the Iranian-backed Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.

Source: Voice of America