Nine soldiers of the Houthi rebel group were killed by pro-government Yemeni forces in the country's southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday, a military official said.

"An artillery shelling launched by the pro-government forces killed nine Houthi fighters in the northern part of Taiz," the local military source said on condition of anonymity.

The Houthi soldiers were killed when they tried to infiltrate into the military sites of the pro-government forces, the official said.

He added that the artillery shelling forced the Houthi rebels to abort their infiltration plan and eventually withdraw.

The Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have been locked in clashes with the Houthi military in various areas of the Taiz province since April 2015.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa.