Dozens killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrike on Yemen's Saada

A Saudi-led coalition airstrike killed 11 civilians and wounded eight others in the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen on Wednesday, a tribal chief said.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

20 December, 2017

The Saudi-led coalition has intensified airstrikes in recent weeks [File Photo: AFP]

At least 11 civilians were killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen on Wednesday, a tribal chief said.

Eight others were injured in the raid, the tribal leader, who was speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said.

The pro-Houthi al-Masirah television channel gave the same death toll and added that women and children were among those killed. It said 19 were wounded.

On Tuesday, the UN human rights office said it verified the killings of 115 Yemeni civilians and other non-combatants in airstrikes carried out by a Saudi-led military coalition over 11 days this month.

The office spokesman, Rupert Colville, said UN officials are “deeply concerned” about the surge in civilian casualties from airstrikes following the killing of Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh in early December.

Colville said the killings occurred between December 6-16 in four northern provinces.

The attacks included airstrikes on Yemen’s rebel-run TV channel, a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and a series of strikes targeting a prison in Sanaa that killed 43, he said.

Over the past three years, more than 10,000 people have been killed and three million displaced since the Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against Houthi rebels and their allies in March 2015. The war has also led to outbreaks of cholera and brought the country to the brink of famine.

The US-backed Saudi collation is seeking to restore Yemen’s internationally recognised government back to power.