Civilians 'killed by Saudi-coalition strikes' in Yemen

The rebel-controlled news agency Saba News reported that two missiles hit civilian homes in the villages of al-Sharaf and al-Maabaran in the administrative area of al-Salu.

A Yemeni official said that 11 civilians, including one child and seven women had been killed after three homes were hit in coalition strikes by mistake, while AFP reported that a public hospital had received the bodies of 15 people and seven who were wounded.

However, the New Arab’s correspondent for Yemen said coalition forces had not confirmed any news regarding the attack.

The Saudi-led coalition has come under mounting international criticism for the high civilian death toll from the bombing campaign it launched in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government in March last year.

An October 8 strike that killed more than 140 people attending a funeral ceremony for the father of a rebel leader in the capital Sanaa drew condemnation even from close Western allies.

Read more here: Britain's dark shadow looms over Yemen funeral tragedy

The town of Salo has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as pro-Hadi forces attempt to advance towards Taiz, where the government garrison is almost entirely surrounded by the rebels and dependent on a single supply line from the south.

The rebels have been attempting to block the advance which would allow reinforcements to be brought up directly along the main road from the government's headquarters in second city Aden to the south.

Thousands of people have been forced from their homes by the fighting.

The rebel news agency said that those killed in Saturday's airstrikes were among them.

Nationwide, three million Yemenis have been driven from their homes since the Saudi-led intervention began.

Nearly 7,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians and, more than than 35,000 wounded.