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The bombed prison building after the air raid
Photo: - / AFP
The victims are said to be civilians, including refugees and at least three children: More than 60 people were killed in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a prison building in northern Yemen.
In addition, 140 people were injured in the bombardment in the city of Saada, a spokesman for the local health authority reported.
Rescuers were looking for more victims.
There are numerous missing.
The prison was reportedly used as accommodation for refugees from Africa.
The aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF), citing local staff, reported that at least 200 injured people had been taken to a local hospital.
Many bodies lay at the scene of the attack.
"It appears to have been a horrific act of violence," said an MSF spokesman.
There were also air raids on other areas on Friday night.
Saada is near the border with Saudi Arabia and is under the control of the Houthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen.
In 2014, they captured the capital Sanaa, among other things.
Sunni Saudi Arabia sees the rebels as an ally of its Shia archenemy Iran and is fighting them (read more here).
The Houthis also attack the neighboring kingdom with rockets.
The Saudi-led coalition, in turn, regularly bombs targets in Yemen.
Numerous civilians die again and again.
The war in the crisis state in the south of the Arabian Peninsula had intensified again in the past few days.
At least three people were killed in a suspected Houthi drone strike in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi a few days ago.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) are part of the Saudi alliance.
The coalition then bombed the Yemeni rebels this week.
At least twelve people were killed.
as/dpa