Yemen's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the Saudi-led coalition has reached a truce deal with Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels along borders between the two countries.

A Houthi militia stands guard at a checkpoint in Sanaa, Yemen, March 9, 2016, after the Saudi-led coalition on Wednesday announced a prisoner swap deal with Yemen's Houthi militias. [Photo/Xinhua]

"The Saudi-led coalition has notified the Yemeni government of a truce deal with Houthi group to secure the shared borders between the two countries and to secure delivering aids to the damaged areas near the Yemeni-Saudi border," Foreign Minister Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi said in a statement.

"The coalition has also exchanged an officer detained by Houthis for seven Yemenis," he said.

On Monday, the Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen sent a delegation to Saudi Arabia to negotiate a truce and exchange of prisoners, sources close to Houthi group said, adding that the move was mediated by Oman.

More than 6,000 Yemenis have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes, half of them civilians since the Saudi-led coalition started daily air bombing on the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces in March 2015.

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