Sanaa, May 24 (IANS): Three Yemeni women were killed by a landmine explosion in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a government official said.

The deadly explosion on Sunday was "caused by a landmine laid previously by the Houthi rebels in Hays district in southern Hodeidah", the official told Xinhua news agency.

The three women were killed "while they were caring for their sheep near an agricultural area", the official added.

The Houthi-laid landmines and IEDs continue to pose a real threat to the civilians despite the ongoing efforts by the experts of the mine-clearing projects in Yemen.

Previous reports by humanitarian organisations said Yemen has become one of the largest landmine battlefields in the world since World War II.

At least 348 Yemenis were killed by landmines in 2020, according to the UN Development Program (UNDP).

Meanwhile, the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance in Yemen (Masam) claimed that it has so far removed 230,592 mines and unexploded ordnance from the war-tirn country.

The Iran-allied Houthi rebels seized the northern Yemeni provinces including the capital Sanaa in late 2014, forcing President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile.

A coalition formed by Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries intervened militarily in the conflict to fight against the Houthis in March 2015, in response to an official request from Hadi to protect Yemen.