RIYADH/SANAA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-led coalition said on Friday it had intercepted a drone in the region of Mecca, Islam's holiest city, as the Houthi media reported that more than 30 people were killed or injured in an airstrike on a crowded public market in the southwestern Yemeni province of Taiz.
"Interception and destruction of a drone in the Mecca region," Turki Al-Malki, the coalition's spokesperson, said on social media, without elaborating on the source of the attack.
Earlier in the day, Al-Malki said the coalition's defenses intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis. In previous statements, the group has strongly denied Saudi-led coalition accusations that they launched drones or missiles toward Mecca and Medina.
Also on Friday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that three airstrikes hit Al-Hadarah Market in the Al-Wazi'iyah district on Friday morning when the market was crowded with shoppers, attributing the attack to Saudi warplanes.
It reported that the preliminary casualty toll exceeded 30 as rescue efforts were underway to search for missing people and bodies, without specifying deaths or injuries.
The casualty figures and circumstances of the strikes could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.
The strikes come amid intensified fighting across Taiz and other parts of Yemen between the Houthi group and government forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition.
The escalation has also spread into Saudi Arabia, where the Houthis have claimed repeated missile and drone attacks on airports, oil facilities and military installations.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led intervention in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government. ■
