Jamal Bean wrote on his Tweeter page that Shaalan and his accompanying team have been killed in the Yemeni army's missile attack since their corpses were scorched by the fire of a blast.

Yesterday and after the Saudi officials released the news on the death of the country's air force commander as a result of a heart attack, sources in New York challenged the Saudi news agency's report, saying the General was killed in Yemen's missile attacks.

The official Saudi Press Agency had quoted the Ministry of Defense as saying on Wednesday that Shaalan died of a heart attack during a work trip outside the kingdom.

But an informed Yemeni source who called for anonymity said in New York on Wednesday that "Shaalan was killed in the Yemeni army's missile attacks against Saudi Arabia's Khamees al-Mushait region five days earlier".

The Yemeni army targeted Amir Khalid military base in Khamees al-Mushait region by a Scud missile earlier this week.

The Saudi army claimed that it had intercepted the Scud by two Patriot missiles, but the Arabic-language Al-Mayadeen news channel showed footage of the missile attack, reporting that it had hit the target.