Saudi-led coalition airstrikes kill 21 Yemenis ahead of Eid

Fifteen civilians were killed and 20 wounded when coalition fighter jets struck workers drilling for water in the Beit Saadan area of the Arhab district north of Sanaa, residents said.

Four workers were killed when warplanes allegedly mistook the drilling machine for a rocket launcher. A second raid killed eleven villagers who rushed to the scene shortly after the initial attack.

A higher death toll was provided by local media who put the number of dead and wounded at the water-drilling site at around 100.

Pictures published showed charred bodies and equipment, while videos showed a more graphic scene of mutilated bodies being carried away in blankets.

Pictures published showed charred bodies and equipment, while videos showed a more graphic scene of mutilated bodies being carried away in blankets

No statement has yet been issued by the Saudi-led coalition.

Separate strikes in the Hairan district of Hajjah hit the home of Sheikh Maqbool al-Harmali, a local tribal chief, residents said.

Saturday's attacks were the latest in a series of strikes that have hit schools, hospitals, markets and private homes.

The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting, many of them civilians.

Half of all civilian casualties have been blamed on the Saudi-led coalition – which adamantly insists it does not target civilians - while Houthi shelling has so far amounted to a quarter of the death toll.

The coalition intervened in March 2015 after Houthi rebels overran the capital, forcing the President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi to flee towards the southern port city of Aden.