DUBAI — Six bodyguards to Yemen's defense minister were killed Wednesday when their vehicle hit a landmine east of the capital Sanaa, in a blast that left the official unhurt, a ministry source said.

The Yemen government — backed by a Saudi-led military coalition — has been battling Iran-bached Houthi rebels since 2014, when the insurgents seized control of Sanaa.

Defense Minister Gen. Mohammed Ali Al-Maqdishi was in Marib province on Wednesday visiting one of the main frontlines.

"A vehicle accompanying that of the defense minister was struck by an explosion," a defense ministry source told AFP, adding that six of his guards were killed.

"Nothing happened to the minister," the source said.

Loyalist military officials said late January that the Houthis had made gains against government troops north and east of the capital, seizing a strategic road.

The road connects Sanaa to the provinces of Marib, to the east, and Jawf in the north.

Before the latest upsurge in fighting, Jawf province had been mostly controlled by the Houthis, with its capital still in the hands of the government.

Marib province, including its capital, is under government control.

The renewed fighting, which erupted several weeks ago, included a Jan. 18 missile strike on a loyalist military camp that killed 116 people.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions been displaced in the war that the United Nations has termed as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. — AFP