Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday two of its troops went missing while they were participating in the military operation against the Houthi militants in Yemen.
"The two soldiers are presumed to be alive and that the Houthi militants abducted them," the Saudi official news agency quoted spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition, Ahmed Asiri, as saying.
"We hold the militants responsible for their safety as we urge them to avoid publishing their photos on media," Asiri said, while affirming that the coalition is doing its best to recover them.
The coalition has been bombing the Houthis, who seized power in Yemen in late 2014, since March.
Lately, it deployed thousands of troops and heavy equipment including hundreds of tanks and dozens of apache helicopters from its member countries in support of the Yemeni forces.
The reinforcements have joined the offensive to retake the oil-rich provinces of Marib and Jawf. Later, they will take part in the battle to retake the capital Sanaa from the militants.
In the meanwhile, Houthi media said dozens of civilians were killed in airstrikes in several cities including 26 people in Sanaa today. Many others were injured, some seriously, reports added.
Scores of civilians including children have been killed in heavy Saudi-led airstrikes in recent weeks as organizations repeated calls for independent investigations into indiscriminate attacks by the warring parties in the country.