Saudi trainer military jet crashes, killing two pilots

A Saudi military aircraft crashed while on a training mission in the northwest region of Tabuk, killing two pilots, according to local media.

An investigation was opened into the cause of Monday's crash of the British-manufactured Hawk, the kingdom's defence ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

It provided no further details of the circumstances of the accident and did not specify how many crew were on board.

But the Arabic-language Sabq said the crash occurred near the border with Jordan. Saudi media identified the victims as Captain Saud bin Nasser bin Jaris and First Lieutenant Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Dabian.

Monday's crash follows an incident last month that saw a Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crash in Yemen's eastern province of Mahra.

Saudi Arabia is currently waging an air campaign in Yemen to back the internationally-recognised government-in-exile of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa and swathes of the country's north.

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The Saudi coalition has used air power to oust the rebels from much of the country's south, but the Houthis have held onto Sanaa and the key Red Sea port of Hodeida.

The coalition has drawn heavy UN criticism for the high civilian death toll from its campaign in Yemen.

Yemen's war has left at least 17,000 people dead, mostly civilians, since the coalition intervened in 2015, and sparked what the UN has labelled the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

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