"It has been decided to begin a 48-hour ceasefire from 12:00 noon in Yemen's timing (0900 GMT) on Saturday," the kingdom said in a statement. 

It said the truce will be extended if Yemen's Houthi movement shows commitment to it and if the group allows "humanitarian aid" into areas under siege.

The Ansarullah movement expressed its readiness to observe a ceasefire on Wednesday after US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saudi Arabia and the Houthis had agreed to observe a cessation of hostilities.

Saudi Arabia has come under international criticism for the sheer size of casualties and destruction which its war has brought on Yemen since March 2015.

The war has killed at least 11,400 civilians, according to a recent tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.

SA - 12