At least eight civilians were killed when a house north of Yemen's capital was hit in a Saudi-led coalition air strike Thursday, rebel-controlled media in the war-torn country reported.

Al-Massirah television said five others were wounded in the strike on Amran, a city around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Sanaa held by Shiite Huthi rebels at war with Yemen's Saudi-backed government.

The raid also damaged the walls of a neighbouring school compound which was empty at the time, witnesses told AFP.

According to tribal sources, coalition warplanes carried out 12 air strikes targeting an army base controlled by rebel forces during which the house was also hit.

In the capital itself on Thursday, a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint controlled by Huthi militants, killing at least one person, a security source said.

Saudi Arabia has faced repeated criticism from rights groups over civilian casualties in the coalition's military campaign against rebels in Yemen that was launched in March 2015.

It insists the raids do not target civilians.

The coalition intervened after rebels closed in on President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in his southern refuge in the port city of Aden, forcing him into exile.

More than 6,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the intervention of the Saudi-led Arab coalition, according to UN figures.