20 bodies found at border JIZAN – Prince Khaled Bin Sultan, Assistant Defense and Aviation Minister for Military Affairs, has said that the Saudi army has found the bodies of 20 martyrs who fell on the battlefield in areas liberated from the infiltrators. Prince Khaled, who was on a tour Saturday of the armed forces stationed at the Kingdom's borders with Yemen, said: “Some or most of them were martyred. However, we cannot say that they were killed unless we have their bodies. Now, after liberating all the mountainous areas, we found 20 bodies of our soldiers. Therefore, we have six soldiers missing,” he said. He said that previously there were 26 soldiers missing. With the latest reports, the death toll has jumped to 133 since the Kingdom launched a sweeping offensive against infiltrators on Nov. 5. “All the strategic mountains have Saudi flags and soldiers. In the beginning, this area was inundated with infiltrators but it is now completely cleared,” said Prince Khaled, referring to the Saudi border village of Almeresah which he described as “stable”. He said Saudi soldiers had fought with honor and pride. “The number of martyrs was obvious because our men were fighting on the slopes moving up towards the summit, and this was difficult,” he added. “Thanks to Allah, we crushed hundreds of infiltrators,” said Prince Khaled. He said the Saudi military was constantly improving its ability to fight in various terrains, in particular the mountainous areas close to the border. He said that there was a link between Al-Qaeda and the infiltrators. “We have confirmed information from many different services that there are contacts, coordination and common interests between them. Their aim is sabotage. However, we will defeat them all,” he said. Prince Khaled rejected as false reports of the crash of a Saudi Apache helicopter. He said the Saudi losses were two Hummers which were taken by the infiltrators but were destroyed, along with the infiltrators, the following day; two pick-up cruisers, of which one was destroyed; one equipment transporter which was destroyed; one rescue and evacuation winch; about 13, 12-caliber machine guns, which were totally destroyed; and one water trailer which was also destroyed. Prince Khaled said the Armed Forces will stay in the area as a precautionary measure. He said that the leadership was considering establishing a military city in the Jizan region. With regard to reports of the death of infiltrator leader, Abdel Malik Al-Houthi, Prince Khaled said: “We've received unconfirmed information, but I cannot confirm this matter unless I receive confirmed information.” On Thursday, the Kingdom said its army lost 113 troops including Lt. Col. Saeed Matuq Al-Omari, a paratrooper and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. Earlier, Saudi chief of staff Gen. Saleh Bin Ali Al-Mohaya described the ongoing offensive as “close to a guerrilla war”. The Kingdom's forces have been relying on artillery and air power to defeat the infiltrators without risking manpower, but the casualties mostly come when ground forces attempt to move into areas that were shelled. Meanwhile, teams of sentries from local villages, in coordination with security authorities, keep a continuous watch in order to discover anyone attempting to enter the country illegally. Infiltrators may be children or men disguised as women.
