One Saudi killed in Yemen rebel border attack

By Souhail Karam

RIYADH (Reuters) - Yemeni rebels have killed a Saudi security officer in an attack across the border and warned Saudi Arabia to stay out of the conflict in Yemen.

The raid on Tuesday highlighted the growing security threat from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and a close U.S. ally.

The Shi'ite Muslim rebels accuse Saudi Arabia of backing government forces in the Yemen war, although Sanaa denies such involvement.

Reporting the cross-border raid, the official Saudi news agency said gunmen opened fire on Saudi patrols in Jabal al-Dukhan town.

"The infiltrators used various weapons to fire at the border guard patrols causing the martyrdom (killing) of one security officer and wounding 11 others," it said.

The rebels said on their website they took complete control of Jabal al-Dukhan after defeating the Saudi forces.

Saudi Arabia was allowing the Yemeni army to use the mountainous area to launch attacks against them and they would take action if this continued, the rebels said.

In a separate statement, the rebels said Saudi border guards opened fire on a car belonging to them, killing one person and wounding another.