Sana’a: The Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday it will probe reports of an air strike targeting a gathering of female mourners near the capital, which killed seven people.
The air strike hit a house packed with mourners in Arhab, some 40 kilometres from Sana’a, on Wednesday. Fahd Maqhat, head of the nearby Omeria hospital, said six women and one girl were killed, and that another 10 women were wounded.
“There have been ongoing military confrontations for days between the Yemeni armed forces and Al Houthi militias” outside Sana’a, the coalition said in a statement, referring to the rebels who control the capital. “We will verify these claims and provide media outlets with any information we obtain.”
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said he was “saddened” by the attack.
The war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 civilians and displaced over three million people. It pits Al Houthis and allied army units against the US-backed coalition, which is fighting to restore an internationally recognised government.
Tens of thousands of people have been trapped in the war zone, unable to flee to safety, the UN envoy to Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, said on Thursday, calling on all the parties to the conflict to “respect the sanctity of civilian life.”
