Saudi soldier killed in attack near Yemen border

Suspected Yemeni smugglers shot dead a Saudi soldier near the kingdom's border with Yemen in the second such attack in less than a week, local media reported Tuesday. The Al-Watan daily reported that the Monday clash between a Saudi patrol and "Yemeni smugglers" in the southwestern province of Jizan also left a Saudi border guard wounded. The Saudi troops seized 14 guns left behind by the smugglers at the site of the clash, according to the daily. On April 9, two Saudi soldiers were killed in a similar clash when unidentified gunmen fired on them from across the border with Yemen. The official Saudi news agency SPA said that authorities in the kingdom were working "in cooperation with their Yemeni counterparts" to identify those behind the assaults. It also quoted Jizan border guard spokesman General Abdullah bin Mahfoudh as confirming that the Saudis have resumed construction of a security fence between the two countries to "reduce infiltration and smuggling". Local media reported earlier this month that Saudi Arabia is resuming a project, abandoned in 2004, to build a three-metre (10-foot) high fence along the frontier. The kingdom's long and porous border with Yemen is frequently crossed by smugglers as well as Islamists seeking to join Al-Qaeda militants in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation. Source: AFP