UNITED NATIONS | BY LOUIS CHARBONNEAU

Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it was "alarmed and outraged" by a call from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for the kingdom to be suspended from the U.N. Human Rights Council until a Saudi-led military coalition stops killing civilians in Yemen.

The two human rights advocacy groups said the Saudis have had "an appalling record of violations in Yemen while a Human Rights Council member." Saudi Arabia is in its final year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

A Saudi-led coalition began an air campaign in Yemen in March 2015 to defeat Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

"We were alarmed and outraged at Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch's statement accusing Saudi Arabia of unlawful attacks in Yemen," the Saudi U.N. mission said in a statement.

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U.N. sanctions monitors said in January that the coalition had targeted civilians in Yemen and that some of the attacks could be crimes against humanity.

Several diplomats said the rights groups' appeal was unlikely to bring a Saudi suspension. In 2011, the U.N. General Assembly suspended Libya from the rights council because of violence against protesters by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-un-rights-idUSKCN0ZG2X1