World Bulletin / News Desk

Houthi sources have claimed to have shot down a fighter jet over Yemen and captured its Sudanese pilot.

"Anti-rocket defense systems shot down a plane in northern Sanaa and captured its Sudanese pilot," one of the sources told The Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

The claim could not be verified.

There was no comment from either Sudan or the Saudi-led Arab coalition, which has been striking Houthi positions in Yemen since Wednesday.

On Friday, U.S. forces rescued two Saudi pilots after their fighter jet crashed over Yemen.

Riyadh said the anti-Houthi campaign was in response to appeals by embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to "save the people [of Yemen] from the Houthi militias."

Fractious Yemen has been beset by turmoil since last September, when Shiite militants overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country as well.

Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.