Qatari soldier killed in Yemen - state news agency

A Qatari soldier fighting alongside a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen has been killed in clashes there, state media said on Wednesday, the first reported death of a soldier from the small Gulf Arab state in the conflict.

Qatar has not formally announced its troops are among the Saudi-led forces trying to restore Yemen's government, which was sent into exile by Houthi fighters that Gulf states see as a proxy for their arch-rival Iran.

A senior commander from the United Arab Emirates forces in Yemen denied in September that Qatar had sent any ground forces.

The United Nations says more than 5,600 Yemenis have been killed since the Gulf Arab intervention began in March 26. Dozens of soldiers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and other coalition members have also died.

"The Qatari armed forces today announced the martyrdom of Mohammed Hamid Suleiman, a soldier from the Qatari armed forces in the line of duty with Arab coalition forces ... in the Republic of Yemen," Qatar's state QNA agency said.