Yemeni boy hangs himself after impoverished family 'failed to provide new Eid clothes'

A 12-year-old Yemeni boy has become the latest victim in a wave of suicides in the poverty-stricken country, where a war has killed thousands and fuelled a humanitarian crisis.

Ammar Mohamed Ali hanged himself on Tuesday in the central city of Taiz because of embarrassment that his impoverished family could not afford to buy him new clothes for this week's Eid al-Adha feast, local media reported.

Muslims traditionally buy new clothes for their children to wear during the holiday and slaughter sheep or cows as an offering to God.

Sadiq Abdallah al-Qubati, one of the boy's neighbours, told The New Arab that Ali went missing on Tuesday afternoon and was later found on the roof of his family's building having hung himself.

"The child was heartbroken that Eid was coming and that he hadn't received new clothes and that his family didn't have an animal to sacrifice," Qubati said.

"His father, who is taking care of over seven family members, wasn't able to buy clothes for Ammar and his siblings because he has been struggling to make a living since the outbreak of the war with the small shop he owns," he said.

The suicide is just the latest in recent months.

In June, a 40-year old woman in Ibb province committed suicide poisoning herself along with her two daughters aged 9 and 12.

A high-ranking officer reportedly shot himself dead in May after eight months of unpaid salaries.

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has been wracked by violence since Arab Spring protests in 2011 led to war in 2014, when Houthi rebels and their allies seized Sanaa and vast tracts of other territory, including Taiz.

The conflict escalated when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, exacerbating the crisis that has killed over 10,000 civilians and displaced 3 million people, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

An outbreak of cholera has killed 2,000 people and infected an estimated 500,000, the World Health Organization has said.

Half the country's health facilities are out of service, including many that were bombed by the Saudi-led coalition.

Government workers, including medics and garbage collectors, have not received their salaries in nearly a year, further hindering efforts to combat the cholera outbreak.