Three Yemeni women were killed by a landmine explosion in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Sunday, a government official said.

The deadly explosion was "caused by a landmine laid previously by the Houthi rebels in Hays district in southern Hodeidah," the local official said on condition of anonymity.

The three women were killed "while they were caring for their sheep near an agricultural area," the source added.

The Houthi-laid landmines and IEDs continue to pose a real threat to the civilians despite the ongoing efforts by the experts of the mine-clearing projects in Yemen.

Previous reports by humanitarian organizations said Yemen has become one of the largest landmine battlefields in the world since World War II.

The Iran-allied Houthi rebels seized the northern Yemeni provinces including the capital Sanaa in late 2014, forcing President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile.

A coalition formed by Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries intervened militarily in the conflict to fight against the Houthis in March 2015, in response to an official request from Hadi to protect Yemen.