Yemen: Fire at Marib camp kills 7 people, including 5 children

At least seven people, mostly children, were killed after a fire broke out on Sunday in a refugee camp in the flashpoint region of Marib in eastern Yemen.

The fire broke out in the Shabwani camp east of the city of Marib due to an electric short circuit, killing seven including five children, the executive unit for IDP's camps management - a government committee that administers the camps for the internally displaced - has said.

It added that another woman was in the intensive care at one of the city’s hospitals.

The fire, which destroyed the shelter of two families, has led to the biggest casualty, the government committee said.

Last month, at least four fires broke out at different camps, killing a total of one person and wounding at least four others.

These incidents are more common in hotter weather, said the committee.

Over 2.2 million Yemenis have been displaced in the Marib province alone since 2014.

Marib was home to three million people prior to the conflict, which started when Iran-backed Houthi militants overran the capital Sanaa and forced the Saudi-backed government south to Aden.

Fighting between Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels have intensified over the past year in the province, considered by all parties as crucial because it is the internationally recognised government's last stronghold in North Yemen and the country's sole gas-producing region with one of its largest oilfields.

Warring sides agreed to a two-month truce at the start of this month, the first since 2016.

The war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands and caused what the United Nations describes as the world's largest humanitarian crisis.