KHARTOUM // Five Sudanese troops were killed while fighting for the Saudi-led Arab coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen, a spokesman for Sudan’s armed forces said on Wednesday.
Sudan sent hundreds of its soldiers to Yemen in 2015 to bolster Gulf Arab troops in the southern port of Aden.
“We lost five martyrs and 22 others have been wounded,” said army spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Khalifa Al Shami.
The army did not specify when the troops were killed.
Brig Gen Al Shami said Sudanese forces had on Tuesday completed their “first stage of duty” in Yemen and were now preparing to launch the second stage.
“Our troops in Yemen have captured all the areas targeted in the first stage, inflicted big losses on the enemy and are holding many prisoners of war,” said Brig Gen Al Shami, without offering details.
The Sudanese military said in January 2016 it had lost one soldier in Yemen.
Khartoum joined the coalition in 2015 after breaking ties with Tehran, which backs the Houthis.
The two-year conflict started after the rebels overran the capital Sanaa, forcing the internationally-recognised government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to flee. The Arab alliance includes the UAE and other Gulf countries, along with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan.
More than 10,000 people have been killed and fighting on the ground has pushed Yemen to the edge of famine.
According to the UN, more than three million people have been displaced, and more than two-thirds of Yemen’s population of around 18.8 million people need aid.
* Reuters and Agence France-Presse