Saudi troops have regained¹ control of a border village occupied by Yemeni Shia rebels since November, the kingdom's deputy defence minister has said.

沙特副国防大臣称，军队重新收回了去年11月被也门什叶派叛军占领的一个边境村庄。

bin² Sultan addressed state TV near the front line" width="226" height="170" src="/upimg/100113/4_053832_1.jpg" />
Prince Khaled bin Sultan addressed state TV near the front line

Prince Khaled bin Sultan told state TV that four Saudi soldiers and "hundreds" of rebels were killed in the clashes冲突，不协调.

He said the overall death toll死亡人数 of Saudi soldiers in the border conflict with Yemen's Houthi rebels now stood at 82.

Riyadh began operations against the rebels in November after a Saudi soldier was killed along the border.

Regional threat

Prince Khaled bin Sultan said Yemeni rebels had "inflicted遭受，造成 upon themselves hundreds of deaths" in the border village of al-Jabiri after ignoring a 48-hour deadline to quit their positions, the Reuters news agency reports.

"The infiltrators渗透者 have been eliminated from al-Jabiri and the whole district has been taken under control," he told state-owned al-Ekhbariya television, adding that 21 Saudi soldiers were missing.

The rebels have repeatedly accused Saudi forces of targeting their villages and killing⁵ civilians⁶, but Riyadh says its military operations have been confined to Saudi territory.

While the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis began recently, fighting between the rebels from the minority Shia Zaidi sect⁷宗派 and the Yemeni government has occurred sporadically偶发地，零星地 since 2004.

The rebels accuse the government of social, economic and religious marginalisation边缘化.

Also on Tuesday, Yemen's interior ministry⁹ said Yemeni forces killed at least 19 rebels in the northern city of Saada and arrested another 20.

According to the latest UN figures, an estimated 200,000 people have been displaced by the conflict.

Alongside the fighting in the north and a secessionist脱离论者，分离主义者 movement in the south, Western policymakers believe al-Qaeda is gaining a foothold立足点，据点 in Yemen.

Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said instability in Yemen was a global as well as regional threat.