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Saudi-led coalition reports helicopter crash in Najran as Houthis claim a shootdown

The coalition said an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter came down with a technical fault, killing two officers. A Houthi spokesman said the group shot down a Saudi Apache.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 18 Oct 2026, 13:04

A US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter in flight over Alaska in 2019, in a file photo. Saudi Arabia operates Apache helicopters; a Houthi spokesman said the group shot down a Saudi Apache near Najran, while the Saudi-led coalition said a National Guard AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed with a technical fault. Photo: CW2 Cameron Roxberry / U.S. Army (public domain)

The Saudi-led coalition said on 18 October that a Saudi National Guard reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Najran region near the border with Yemen because of a technical malfunction, killing its two-officer crew.

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said the AH-6i helicopter came down inside Saudi territory. The official Saudi Press Agency carried his statement.

The crash was reported a day after the Houthis' military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a post on X that the group had shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter near Najran while it was carrying out what he called hostile operations against Houthi positions along the border. Saree gave no details of the weapon, the crew or the exact location.

Al-Maliki rejected that account. He replied to Saree's post with a photo of several Apache helicopters lined up, saying: "You claim to have shot it down, but it will enter the battlefield soon."

The two sides described different aircraft types, and it was not clear that they were referring to the same helicopter.

Najran, in south-western Saudi Arabia on the Yemen border, has come under repeated Houthi drone and missile attacks in recent weeks as fighting has escalated. The coalition also said it intercepted two ballistic missiles fired towards Khamis Mushait and a drone over the Riyadh region.

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Tk329 crore allocated for MP-nominated projects in 3,253 union parishads

The Local Government Division's 13 October letter sets spending conditions, makes the officer who pays a bill personally liable for irregularities and orders unused money returned by 30 June 2027.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 14:12Open this article

Jashai Union Parishad office in Pangsha, Rajbari district. The Local Government Division has allocated Tk329 crore for MP-nominated projects in 3,253 union parishads. File photo: Riyadmahmud480 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Riyadmahmud480 / Wikimedia Commons

The Local Government Division has allocated Tk329 crore for development projects nominated by members of parliament across 3,253 union parishads in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

The money falls under the transport development assistance head of the Annual Development Programme, according to a letter issued on 13 October by the division's Upazila Parishad-2 branch.

The letter, signed by Senior Assistant Secretary Atikul Islam, was sent to the offices concerned with instructions on releasing and spending the funds.

To release money, a bill must carry the countersignature of the upazila nirbahi officer and be submitted to the upazila accounts officer. The funds are then transferred to the union parishad's bank account under the usual financial rules.

The union parishad chairman and administrative officer must withdraw the money jointly and keep records of how it is spent.

Projects must follow the Union Parishad Development Assistance Management Guidelines 2021, the Public Procurement Rules 2008 and other applicable financial rules, the letter says.

It warns that any irregularity in spending will make the officer who paid the bill personally liable. Money left unspent must be returned to the government treasury by 30 June 2027.

Divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, upazila nirbahi officers, district and upazila accounts officers, and union parishad chairmen and administrators have been told to make the necessary arrangements.

NEXT STORY Business

Gold worth Tk1.2 crore found hidden in cookware at Chattogram airport

Officials say four bars and bangles weighing 566 grams in total were packed inside a non-stick pan, a blender and a dish rack carried by a passenger arriving from Abu Dhabi.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 14:12Open this article

The international terminal at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram. Customs and intelligence officials seized 566 grams of gold from a passenger there on 18 October 2026. File photo: Mir Ridowan Sayeed / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Mir Ridowan Sayeed / Wikimedia Commons

Customs and intelligence officials seized 566 grams of gold from a passenger at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram on Sunday morning after the metal was found hidden inside kitchenware.

The passenger, Mohammad Kamrul Islam, 43, of Donogra in Banshkhali upazila, had arrived from Abu Dhabi on US-Bangla Airlines flight BS-350, airport officials said.

A joint team of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, the National Security Intelligence and the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate stopped him during baggage screening at the customs hall at about 6:30am.

Searches of a non-stick pan, a stainless steel vegetable blender and a stainless steel dish rack turned up four gold bars weighing 466 grams, according to an airport press release. Officials also found about 100 grams of gold bangles on him.

The metal was valued at about Tk1.2 crore. The airport release put the estimated revenue from the seized gold at Tk1 crore 20 lakh 40 thousand.

The gold was handed over to airport customs after it was weighed. A case was filed under the anti-smuggling law, and arrangements were being made to hand the passenger to Patenga police.

Shah Amanat's public relations officer, Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, confirmed the detention and the recovery.