The military plane which the Houthi group tried to shoot down late last week in Yemen's far north province of Saada, carried senior officials probably including Defense Minister and Deputy Chief of Staff, local sources told the Alsahwa website.
The website quoted unnamed defense sources as saying that the attempt to bring it down was a dangerous indicator of violating the holding ceasefire between the army and the group and came within continuous Houthi violations reported by the ceasefire committees.
The Houthi group has denied in a statement following the incident its involvement in the attempt.
We are ready to carry out an investigation into the shooting in association with any committee….just to know who was behind it, the statement said.
On Thursday, the Security Committee in Saada held the group responsible for trying to shoot down the airplane that was on an ordinary trip carrying officials the day Defense Minister Muhammad Nasser Ahmed met with the committee, governor and local government.
The meeting focused on the situation in the province topped by the efforts to establish peace and normalize the life and start the reconstruction of the war-ravaged areas.