Videos raise questions over Saudi missile intercept claims

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Online videos are raising new questions about Saudi Arabia’s claims that it has intercepted nearly every ballistic missile launched by Shiite rebels in Yemen targeting the kingdom.

One video appears to show a Patriot missile launch on Sunday night go rapidly wrong, with the missile changing course midair, crashing into a neighborhood in Riyadh and exploding. Another appears to detonate shortly after being launched in the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment Monday from The Associated Press.

However, analysts say the videos appear to show the kingdom being yet another country overstating the capability of the missile defense system, a tradition dating back to the 1991 Gulf War.

Fragments of one Yemeni missile over Riyadh on Sunday killed one person and wounded two.

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