"Pro-Riyadh militants conducted an attack to take control of al-Ghayl district in Jawf, however, Ansarullah forces and their allies repulsed the attack in the mountainous Wadi Iber area before the attackers could reach al-Ghayl, killing 11 Saudi-backed mercenaries and wounding 10 others,” a military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Sunday.

Media reports also suggest Yemeni army forces later recovered the bodies of seven Saudi mercenaries whohave been left by their fellow militants in the area.

A few hours later, fighters from Ansarullah movement and popular forces launched a barrage of rockets at a Saudi military camp in the Kofel area in Yemen’s central province of Ma’rib.

A Saudi colonel, identified as Abdullah Khalfan Balhid, was reportedly killed in the attack.

On Saturday, Saudi fighter jets “mistakenly” killed 25 mercenaries and troops loyal to Yemen’s Saudi-backed former president in the impoverished country’s Northwest.

The fatalities were caused in the al-Maton district of Yemen’s al-Jawf Province. The purportedly misdirected fire also injured 15 others loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen’s president.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen in March 2015 in a bid to reinstate Hadi. More than 9,800 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured in the aggression.

The Ansarullah fighters and allied army factions have been defending Yemen both against the deadly Saudi invasion and al-Qaeda militants, FNA reported.

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