SANAA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi militia said on Monday that they killed at least 95 Saudi-led coalition soldiers in a battle in the country's northwestern province of Hajjah in the past two days.
The battle that killed 15 Saudi and 80 Sudanese soldiers "drove the mercenaries out of the western part of Harad city near the Red Sea," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted a Houthi military statement as saying.
Dozens of Saudi and Sudanese soldiers were captured in the battle, the statement added.
There have been no confirmations yet from the coalition or the Yemeni government army.
The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi militia for nearly seven years, with Hajjah as one of the critical battlegrounds.
In February, the Houthi militia drove the government forces out of Harad, a city in Hajjah, and has since controlled large areas of the province.
The Houthis have recently intensified cross-border missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition. Most of the cross-border attacks were reportedly intercepted.
The escalation came after the militia lost several strategic districts in Yemen's oil-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to support the Yemeni government. ■
