A Yemeni government official release a statement on Saturday revealing a Somali man was killed in combat fighting alongside Houthi rebels in northern Yemen. The clashes reportedly took place on the Saudi border. The circumstances in which the militant was killed remains unclear.

Waleed Al-Qadaimi, the Deputy Governor of Hodeiah province released the statement on his official twitter page confirming the death. The Deputy Governor went further by revealing the Militant was a mercenary recruited by the Houthi Rebels to fight against the Saudi led coalition.

The identity of the mercenary has not been released. These developments came as a surprise to many Somalis knowing Somalis are 100% Sunni Muslim yet one of there fellow Somalis died fighting alongside Shia rebels in Yemen.

Yemen is currently home to over 200,000 Somali refugees who fled to the Gulf of Aden nation following the collapse of the Somali Government in 1991 and the subsequent civil war that engulfed the nation. As for the Republic of Yemen that nation has been embroiled in brutal civil war since 2015 as the Saudi and UAE coalition wage a ruthless war against the Iranian backed Houthi Rebels in Yemen, which has left thousands dead.

Nearly a quarter million Somali refugees remain caught up in the crossfire as the conflict in Yemen rages. The recent death of the Somali militant is the first official confirmation of Somali Mercenaries fighting in Yemen.

Listed below is a photo of the Somali Mercenary