ADEN, Yemen, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's government forces declared on Saturday that 25 Houthi fighters were killed during an armed ambush in the country's northeastern province of Marib.
The government forces lured groups of the Houthi rebels into a well-prepared armed ambush in Sirwah district located in the western part of Marib, the state-run Saba News Agency reported.
"The ambush resulted in the killing of more than 25 members of the Houthi rebels and wounding several others while the rest of them escaped under the army's strikes," the report said.
It pointed out that Saudi-led coalition warplanes targeted some Houthi positions and reinforcements in various parts of the Sirwah front, destroying a number of their combat vehicles.
No information, however, was given about casualties among the soldiers of the government during the armed clashes in Marib.
Last month, Yemen's Houthi militia stepped up its military operations and carried out all-out offensives against the oil-rich province of Marib.
Intensified and coordinated armed military attacks were launched by the Houthis against several sites of the government forces stationed in the western outskirts of Marib, 170 km east of the country's capital Sanaa.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthis seized control of much of the country's north and forced the Saudi-backed government out of Sanaa.
