Saudi Arabia, UAE slam 'Houthi' attack in Yemen

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia and the UAE, key players in a military coalition battling the Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen, condemned on Monday a missile attack that killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers.

Saturday's missile strike blamed on the Iran-backed Houthis follows months of relative calm in the conflict between the rebels and Yemen's internationally recognised government.

Government military sources said Saturday that the Houthis attacked a mosque during evening prayers in a military camp in the central province of Marib — about 170 kilometres east of the capital Sanaa.

"Saudi Arabia strongly condemns the terrorist attack carried out by the Houthi militia," the kingdom's foreign ministry said in a statement. 

The assault "reflects this terrorist militia's disregard for sacred places and... for Yemeni blood".

The United Arab Emirates also condemned the "criminal" attack, saying that it "rejects all forms of violence that target security and stability".

The death toll increased to 116 and is expected to rise, military and medical sources told AFP on Monday. Early reports suggested 83 were killed and 148 injured.

Death tolls in Yemen's grinding conflict are often disputed, but the huge casualty list in Marib represents one of the bloodiest single attacks since the war erupted in 2014 when the rebels seized the capital Sanaa. 

The Houthis did not make any immediate claim of responsibility for the strike.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in the war that has ravaged the country, triggering what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the conflict to back the government against the Houthis in March 2015, shortly after the rebels seized control of Sanaa.