Agencies
Sanaa: An airstrike blamed on the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen hit a bus in a busy market in the country’s north, killing at least 20 people, including children, Yemeni tribal leaders said.
As many as 35 were also wounded in the attack, which took place in the Dahyan market in Saada province, a stronghold of the rebels known as Houthis, the elders said. The province lies along the border with Saudi Arabia.
The airstrike hit a bus that was ferrying civilians, including many school children, the elders said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the casualties were on the bus and how many were pedestrians in the immediate area around it.
There was no immediate comment from the coalition, which is led by Saudi Arabia and which is fighting to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government to power. The Saudi coalition has been at war with the Houthis since March 2015. The rebels control much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Twitter that an ICRC supported hospital received dozens of dead and wounded following the attack that hit a bus with children.
“Scores killed, even more injured, most under the age of ten,” the head of the ICRC in Yemen, Johannes Bruwer, said on his Twitter account, adding that the ICRC in Yemen is “sending additional supplies to hospitals to cope with the influx.”
The rebel-run Al Masirah TV gave a different casualty toll, saying the attack killed 39 people and wounded 51, mainly children. Disparate casualty tolls are common in the immediate aftermath of large attacks.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
