Bahraini pilot survives F-16 plane crash, says Saudi Arabia

A Bahraini pilot flying for a Saudi Arabia-led coalition battling Houthi rebels in Yemen has survived a plane crash caused by a technical failure.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency carried a statement from the kingdom's military saying the F-16 crashed on Wednesday in Jizan province. It did not elaborate.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government has been battling the Houthis since March.

The United Nations says the civil war in the Arab world's poorest country has killed more than 5,800 people since then.

Bahrain announced on Tuesday that three of its soldiers were killed and others were wounded along Saudi Arabia's southern border, without elaborating.

Cross-border fire from the conflict has killed soldiers and civilians there in the past.

In August, Washington approved a possible sale of $150 million worth of equipment to Bahrain to maintain its fleet of Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighter jets, even as two US senators introduced legislation to reinstate an arms sales ban that was lifted by the Obama administration in June.