RIYADH: A Saudi soldier was killed in a rocket attack on the kingdom's border with Yemen, where Riyadh is leading an air war against Iran-backed rebels, the interior ministry said.

The rocket fire in the southern city of Jazan killed Faisal Mohammed Belqasem Maqaadi and wounded another soldier, an interior ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency late Saturday.

It did not specify the source of the fire but cross-border shelling by Yemeni rebels has become common since Riyadh launched an air campaign against them in late March.

At least 44 people, civilians and troops, have now lost their lives in shelling and skirmishes along the Saudi side of the border since the campaign began.

Last week, three Saudi soldiers and an Emirati were killed in the border area.

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