DUBAI/JEDDAH: The Yemeni rebel militia said on Friday that a senior member of the Houthi family had been “assassinated,” according to the group’s Al-Masirah TV.

The body of Ibrahim Badreddin Al-Houthi, the brother of Houthi leader Abdel-Malek Al-Houthi, was found in a house in Sanaa.

A Yemeni security source said Ibrahim Al-Houthi was close to his brother and was the militia’s commander for Saada, the Houthi stronghold in northern Yemen which borders Saudi Arabia.

Reading from a statement from the Houthi Interior Ministry, the presenter blamed the “treacherous hands” which it claimed were affiliated with the US, for the killing.

The Houthis did not provide any further details, but said they would do everything “to pursue the criminal aggressors” responsible and bring them to justice.

Security sources previously said the Houthis had deployed additional forces around Sanaa in response to the killing.

Separately, the Arab coalition intercepted a Houthi drone on Thursday, targeting Abha. The drone was launched from Sanaa.

Earlier on Thursday, the coalition intercepted a drone targeting Jazan. The militants fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday from a civilian site in Yemen’s Al-Hajjah province, the coalition said.

(With Reuters & SPA)