SANAA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 soldiers loyal to Yemeni exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi were killed and 60 others wounded in rebels' missile attack toward southern border of Saudi Arabia on Sunday, a military official said.

The attack hit the soldiers in a popular market near al-Buqa border crossing in the afternoon, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

He said the injured were transported to hospital inside the southern Saudi border province of Najran.

Meanwhile, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported a ballistic missile attack on al-Buqa border crossing, killing at least 40 loyal soldiers.

Linking the Saudi southern province of Najran and Yemeni rebel-held northern province of Saada, the shared border crossing al-Buqa was seized control in 2016 by Yemeni government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition.

The Yemeni armed forces of the Fifth Brigade is stationing in al-Buqa and have advanced to the northern edges of the rebels' mountainous stronghold of Marran district in Saada province, the birth place of the rebels' leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi.

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support the government of President Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.

The four-year-long civil war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.