Sanaa, May 11 (IANS): After the five-day humanitarian truce proposed by Saudi Arabia was welcomed by the Yemeni army and the Shia Houthi rebel group, Houthi Ansarullah fighters have reportedly shot down a Saudi coaltion fighter jet in the northern Saada Province.

Ansarullah fighters brought down the fighter jet in the Noshour Valley in Saada on Monday, Yemen’s al-Massirah television reported.

Earlier on Monday, the Moroccan army announced that an F-16 fighter jet belonging to the African country’s armed forces had gone missing during a mission to carry out an airstrike against Yemen.

The plane was missing since 6 p.m. on Sunday, an army statement quoted by Moroccan state news agency MAP said early on Monday.

Moroccan fighter jets have conducted a number of raids against Yemen in tandem with Saudi Arabia, which started its airstrikes on Yemen on March 26 in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to Yemen's fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia, which leads a nine-country coalition forces against the Houthi group, announced on Friday a halt to airstrikes in Yemen for five days beginning on Tuesday, as the air raids and battles have worsened the humanitarian crisis in the impoverised Arab nation.