Jeddah: Monday was a painful day for the Kingdom’s security forces as they lost seven colleagues in two different incidents.
Five security men from the Border Guard, stationed at the southern border in Najran, laid down their lives as they deterred an infiltration attempt by the thugs backing deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi rebels, said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Interior Ministry.
In the second incident, two Saudi pilots lost their lives after their Apache helicopter crashed due to bad weather conditions while they were carrying out a military operation in Yemen.
The coalition announced their names as Capt. pilot Ayman Alfifi , and 1st Lt. pilot Mohammed Al-Hassan.
Explaining the Najran incident, Al-Turki said at 6 a.m. on Monday, Border Guard troops detected an attempt by an armed group of enemy elements at Al-Thar border control point to cross into the Saudi territory. 
The infiltration attempt was thwarted in cooperation with the Border Guard and the Saudi land forces, he added.
The troops immediately countered the infiltrators, exchanged fire with them and managed to foil the attempt. The armed clashes, which lasted for more than eight hours, resulted in the martyrdom of five Border Guard personnel — all with the rank of Private First Class — Sulaiman bin Said Al-Maidi; Musa bin Zain Al-Marhabi; Abdullah bin Mohammed Sharahaili; Marzouq bin Said Lasloum; and Jabir bin Ali Al-Alawi, he said.