Three Saudi border soldiers were killed after exchanging fire with “enemy elements” trying to cross the border from Yemen to attack two watch towers, Saudi Arabia’s official SPA news agency said on Monday.
The attack occurred on Sunday evening in the Harath district of Jizan, the SPA said.
Saudi Arabia has been fighting Houthi forces in Yemen for eight months and has led a coalition of Arab states in a military campaign to drive the group from the capital Sanaa.
Several dozen soldiers from the kingdom have been killed in clashes along the country’s long, rugged border with Yemen.
At least 5,700 Yemenis have been killed since March in a civil war that has pitted supporters of the exiled government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, against forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi militia allied to Iran.