At least five soldiers of the pro-government Yemeni forces were killed in an attack launched by the Houthi rebels in the country's southern province of Dhalea on Friday, a military official told AFP.

The local military official who asked to remain anonymous said that "the attack occurred when a heat-seeking missile fired by the Houthi rebels and struck a military vehicle of the pro-government forces near Al Husha district in western part of Dhalea."

The Houthi attack destroyed the military vehicle and left five pro-government soldiers killed at the scene, the military source said.

He added that armed confrontations broke out between the pro-government forces and the Houthi rebels near Al Husha.

No information, however, was given about casualties among the Houthi fighters during the armed confrontations in the western part of Dhalea.

The areas in the north and west of Dhalea, 138 km north of Aden, have been witnessing non-stop fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters for about four years.

Yemen has been plagued by a civil war since late 2014 when Houthi militias forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.