Saudi-led coalition says it downed six Houthi drones

DUBAI: The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said it intercepted six explosive drones fired towards the kingdom on Friday, with the Houthis claiming to have launched attacks into southern Saudi Arabia since dawn, foreign media reported.

Parts of the destroyed drones fell and injured a 10-year-old boy and also a man who was driving near the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, Saudi civil defence said.

The Houthis fired the six intercepted drones towards Khamis Mushait near the Yemen border in attacks since dawn, the coalition said in statements carried by Saudi state news agency SPA and Ekhbariya TV.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in Twitter posts on Friday that three drones had been fired at dawn, and five in the afternoon. They hit Abha International Airport and King Khalid Air Base, in the Khamis Mushait area, he said.