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News > World

Amid International Inaction, Saudi Arabia Kills 21 Yemenis

  • People gather at a building destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes in the northwestern city of Amran, Yemen, Sept. 8, 2016.

    People gather at a building destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes in the northwestern city of Amran, Yemen, Sept. 8, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 11 September 2016
Opinion

The U.N., which said the Saudi war killed at least 10,000 people in Yemen, has accused the coalition of intentionally targeting children.

At least 21 civilians were killed in two separate airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition in northern Yemen Saturday, residents said, as fighting intensified in the country before the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast.

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At least 15 civilians were killed when warplanes struck workers drilling for water in the Beit Saadan area of the Arhab district north of Sanaa, and 20 people were wounded, residents in the area, controlled by Ansarullah rebels also known as Houthis, said.

They said Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed the site and killed four workers, and then conducted a second bomb run when residents of the village rushed to the scene, killing at least 11 more and wounding 20.

"We heard three explosions, and people rushed out to help the people working on the drills. Then the planes came back and launched five strikes causing this number of dead and wounded," Saif Saleh, a witness, told Reuters by telephone.

The coalition, which has been fighting to roll back gains made by the Houthi group since 2014 and restore ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power, says it does not target civilians.

U.N.-sponsored talks to try to end the fighting collapsed in failure last month and the Houthi movement and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh resumed shelling into neighboring Saudi Arabia.

ANALYSIS:
Why Saudi Arabia is Bombing Yemen

Saturday's attacks were the latest in a series of strikes that have hit schools, hospitals, markets and private homes that killed more than 50 people in less than a week last month.

Local media put the number of dead and wounded at the water-drilling site at around 100 and published pictures of burned bodies and mangled equipment. Videos showed workers collecting mutilated bodies and carrying them away in blankets.

In a second attack, residents reported an airstrike hit the home of Sheikh Maqbool al-Harmali, a local tribal chief in Hairan district of Hajjah province, killing six civilians.

The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting, more than half of them are civilians. Saudi Arabia and its allies have been accused of using the same tactics as Israel in their war in Yemen.

While the U.S. has criticized the war in Yemen it continues to support the coalition logistically. It recently approved a multi-billion dollar arms deal with the Kingdom and its Arab allies.
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