SANAA - Eleven Yemeni government troops, including a senior officer, were killed in a rebel missile attack and clashes to the northeast and east of the capital Sanaa, military and medical sources said Monday.

General Mohammed Ali-Roqn, commander of the army's 122 Brigade, along with eight other soldiers were killed in battle in Al-Jawf province on Sunday while trying to reclaim positions lost months ago, the sources said.

The rebels also suffered casualties, a military official added without elaborating.

Houthi rebels took control of the capital of northern al-Jawf province earlier this year - a strategic advance that means they now threaten oil-producing Marib province.

Yemen's vice president, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, in a statement carried by the official Saba news agency, said al-Roqn was killed "while conducting military operations" in al-Jawf.

Two government troops were killed and four others wounded in a Houthi missile attack on a military base in Marib, east of Sanaa, a government official said.(FA)