Yemen extradited four Egyptians to their country after they had been arrested while fighting the Yemeni army in support of the Houthi rebels in Saada, a Kuwaiti newspaper has reported.

The four were 'mercenaries', who worked for Houthi militias during the sixth war, and were detained in August 2010, the paper reported, citing Yemeni security sources.

Furthermore, Yemen handed the Egyptian authorities the results of investigations of the four, under security cooperation agreements the two countries had signed in the 1990s.

"During the extradition, the Yemeni security authorities asked Egypt to investigate its citizens over their links to terrorist organizations topped by Al-Qaeda."

The four were identified as: Hamouda Muhammad Salam, 41, Jabir Suleiman Rowdh, 39, and Yousuf Jamal Za'ater, 36.

They arrived in the country through extremist Islamic groups whose members fled to Yemen and other countries after the Egyptian authorities had crushed them during the 1990s, the paper said.

It cited the Yemeni investigations that the four joined Houthi militias in 2008 and operated as leaders and attack architects, helping cause the Yemeni army huge losses.

The Yemeni documents, handed with the Egyptian, revealed that among the foreigners, who joined the Houthi rebels to fight the Yemeni army, were Lebanese, Syrians, Afghans, Africans and Libyans.

All foreigners worked as leaders and trainers within the Houthi Group, it added, citing documents.