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Aden (AFP)

A rebel ambush in Yemen killed dozens of Sudanese soldiers belonging to a Saudi-led coalition fighting on the side of the government, military sources and the insurgents said Saturday.

The Iran-backed Huthi rebels hit the Sudanese military convoy in northern Yemen before dawn on Friday, military sources said.

"The Sudanese soldiers were lured into a trap by the rebels" who allowed them to advance into areas where they were waiting in order to attack them, a Yemeni military officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Huthis reported the attack on their Al-Masirah website, saying dozens of Sudanese soldiers had been killed and armoured vehicles destroyed.

There was no immediate comment from Sudan, which has deployed hundreds of soldiers as part of the coalition that Khartoum joined in 2015 after breaking decades-old ties with Tehran.

On Thursday Yemeni military officials said hundreds of soldiers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan had arrived in the north to reinforce troops deployed around rebel bastion Saada.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government was driven from Yemen's capital after the Huthis overran the city in 2014, sweeping southwards from their northern stronghold.

The coalition led by mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia has since struggled to close in on rebel strongholds.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the coalition joined the Yemen war in 2015, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

© 2018 AFP