Yemen: coalition seizes Iran boat 'carrying weapons'

The Saudi-led coalition said on Wednesday it had seized an Iranian fishing boat in the Sea of Oman loaded with weapons destined for Shia rebels it is fighting in Yemen.

A coalition statement said that the vessel was intercepted on Saturday and that 14 Iranians and weapons including anti-tank shells were found on board.

Coalition forces have also denied that they were responsible for an alleged air strike on a wedding party in the capital Sanaa that killed 131 people on 28 September.

The news came a day after the UN said more than 2,355 civilians have been killed in fighting in the country over the last six months.

In the ongoing fighting on the ground, Arab media reported on 28 September that Saudi-led coalition forces had reached the outskirts of the Marib dam to the east of Sanaa, and had destroyed arms depots there. 

The fighting in Marib, where coalition and government-allied troops have massed, has progressed slowly. 

The airstrikes came as the Saudi army announced Sunday that one of its generals was killed while on duty in the kingdom's Jizan province near the border with Yemen.

He is the second high-ranking Saudi military official to have been killed on the border this weekend.

A colonel and another border guard died late Friday in a gun battle after a landmine blast along the frontier with Yemen, according to the Saudi interior ministry.