* One Saudi security officer dead, 11 wounded * Attack raises concern over conflict spill-over * Follows rebel warning to Riyadh (Adds analyst comments, background) By Souhail Karam RIYADH, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Yemeni rebels have killed a Saudi security officer in an attack across the border and warned Saudi Arabia to stay out of the conflict in Yemen. The raid on Tuesday highlighted the growing security threat from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and a close U.S. ally. The Shi'ite Muslim rebels accuse Saudi Arabia of backing government forces in the Yemen war, although Sanaa denies such involvement. Reporting the cross-border raid, the official Saudi news agency said gunmen opened fire on Saudi patrols in Jabal al-Dukhan town. "The infiltrators used various weapons to fire at the border guard patrols causing the martyrdom (killing) of one security officer and wounding 11 others," it said. The rebels said on their website they took complete control of Jabal al-Dukhan after defeating the Saudi forces. Saudi Arabia was allowing the Yemeni army to use the mountainous area to launch attacks against them and they would take action if this continued, the rebels said. In a separate statement, the rebels said Saudi border guards opened fire on a car belonging to them, killing one person and wounding another. It was not clear if this refered to the fighting in Jabal al-Dukhan but the statement said: "The Saudi regime must carry full and absolute responsibility for this intervention which it began and from which it will suffer the consequences. The 1,500 km (930 miles) border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia is a security worry for the kingdom, which is building a high-tech border fence to prevent infiltration. Saudi Arabia and the United States fear the conflict in Yemen's north and a separatist movement in the south will enable al Qaeda to establish a stronger foothold in Yemen. Such fears were compounded in August, when a suicide bomber posing as a repentant al Qaeda militant tried to kill the kingdom's counter-terrorism chief after coming from Yemen. PRESSURE FOR A SOLUTION Dubai-based security analyst Mustafa al-Alani said the rebels have been trying drag the kingdom into the conflict. "The Saudis do not want to end up with a strong militia in their southern neighbour similar to Hezbollah," Alani said of the Iran-backed Lebanese guerrilla group. "The Saudis will be ready to engage inside their border but they will not go beyond. They will do everything possible to keep the conflict contained to Yemen and help the government there to bring things under control," he said. Arab countries allied to the United States, such as predominantly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Egypt, fear Shi'ite power Iran could gain influence in Yemen through the rebels. Yemen's army launched Operation Scorched Earth in August to crush the rebellion. Aid groups say around 150,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, which first broke out in 2004. The rebels say they are fighting political, economic and religious marginalisation by Yemen's central government. (Additional reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky in Dubai; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranian supporters of the country's opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi ...
