DUBAI (Reuters) - A warplane from Saudi Arabia’s air forces fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen crashed on Sunday due to a technical fault while conducting military operations, a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA said.

The Houthi armed movement’s TV channel al-Massirah earlier said Houthi forces had shot down the fighter in Saada province, adding it was a Britain-made Tornado.

The Saudi statement said the plane had crashed in the war zone. It said the Saudi-led coalition conducted a special operation to evacuate the two pilots who survived the crash.