Sanaa - Yemeni rebels said on Monday they shot down a fighter jet as Saudi-led coalition air strikes intensified a day ahead of a hoped-for five-day humanitarian truce.
Morocco announced that one of its warplanes taking part in operations against the rebels was missing along with its pilot, and that a search was underway.
Coalition air strikes hit Iran-backed rebels in their northern stronghold of Saada and in the capital Sanaa, where they sparked powerful explosions at an arms depot at Mount Noqum that shook the city.
Contact was lost with the Moroccan F-16 late afternoon Sunday, the country's official MAP news agency reported, citing the armed forces.
"A second plane which was flying in formation was not able to see whether the pilot ejected," it added.
A Saudi official said the warplane was "certainly on Yemeni territory and had a single pilot on board."
Huthi rebel television said tribesmen shot down a coalition aircraft in the Wadi Nushur area of Saada, and broadcast pictures of them celebrating around the wreckage of a plane bearing a Moroccan flag.
It reported there were "more than 20 raids since the morning" by coalition aircraft across Saada.
"Since the early morning, jets, artillery, and rockets have been pounding Saada" from the Saudi side of the border, one resident told AFP.
The coalition has declared the entire rebel stronghold of Saada province to be a military target after Huthi bombardment of Saudi towns across the border caused several deaths.
AFP
