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Saudi deaths in border fighting Saudis 'push back Yemen rebels'
(about 7 hours later)
Saudi Arabia says three soldiers have died and four are missing after clashes with rebels to retake land on its border with Yemen. Saudi Arabia says it has regained control of territory seized by Yemeni rebels in a cross-border incursion.
Reports say Shia rebels had crossed the Saudi border earlier in the week and taken an area called Jabal Dukhan. Saudi officials say their forces struck after Shia rebels attacked a patrol in the Asir region, killing one soldier.
The Saudi news agency quotes a senior official as saying 15 soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Three more soldiers died in the fighting, officials say, but they deny rebel claims that others were captured.
Saudi Arabia, which says it restricted air strikes to its side of the border, says the area has been retaken. The rebels, known as Houthis, say they are fighting discrimination in Yemen and accuse Saudi Arabia of supporting the Yemeni government.
A senior Saudi defence official said the border area had been "cleansed". BBC regional analyst Sebastian Usher says fighting between the rebels and the Yemeni government has long threatened to spill over the border.
The Saudi military say the attacks are in response to an incursion into the Kingdom last Tuesday, in which a Saudi security officer was killed. Soldiers wounded
The rebels say they were attacked first and accuse Saudi Arabia of allowing the Yemeni army to use its territory to launch cross-border strikes on them - allegations denied by the Saudi authorities. The demarcation of the border is not clear, our correspondent says. The mountainous area used to be part of Yemen and on the Saudi side still feels quite different from the rest of the kingdom, he adds.
The rebels, known as Houthis, have been engaged in an intense wave of fighting with the Yemeni army since the government launched a major new offensive in August 2009. The Saudis say their operation with aircraft and artillery was limited to their side of the border after rebels attacked last week.
Jabal Dukhan is a mountainous area that straddles Saudi Arabia's border with Yemen. The Saudi official news agency quoted a senior official as saying 15 soldiers were wounded and several rebels arrested.
However, rebels say Saudi forces struck deep into northern Yemen and civilians were killed. The Saudis deny the claims.
On a visit to soldiers in the Asir border area, Saudi official Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz said his country was ready to fight off any further rebel incursion.
"Things in the Asir area are secured, with God's will. We will deter anyone who tries to take an inch of the territory of Saudi Arabia, and God willing, we will kick them out," he said.
Observers say Saudi Arabia has become increasingly concerned about instability in Yemen, which faces a Shia insurgency in the north, growing separatism in the south and a renewed threat from al-Qaeda.