Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni air force jet crashed during a raid on rebel strongholds in north-western Yemen on Sunday, with the military and rebels giving conflicting accounts of the crash.

Colonel Askar Zuail, a military commander in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada, told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone that "a Sukhoi plane crashed due to a technical malfunction. The pilot ejected and landed safely."

He said the plane went down in the mountainous Razih district on the border with Saudi Arabia, he said.

But rebels in a statement claimed that they shot the plane down.

It was the third crash of an air force fighter jet in Saada since the army began its latest offensive on the rebels on August 11.

Two planes crashed in October, in both cases the rebels also claiming to have downed them. (dpa)