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Yemen: Many dead after airstrike in Saada
Photo: NAIF RAHMA / REUTERS
The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has denied reports of an airstrike on a prison in civil war-torn Yemen that has killed dozens.
The allegation that there were victims among the prisoners was "untrue," said a military spokesman, as reported by the state news agency SPA on Saturday.
Rather, the accusations are the usual "blinding tactics" of the Yemeni Houthi rebels.
At least 70 people were killed and 138 injured in a bombing in the Houthi-controlled city of Saada in northern Yemen on Friday, according to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
"It appears to have been a terrible act of violence"
"It appears to have been a horrific act of violence," said an MSF spokesman.
Saada is near the border with Saudi Arabia and is under the control of the Houthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen.
There were also air raids in other areas of the civil war country, including the port city of Hodeida;
three children were killed.
"The children were reportedly playing at a nearby soccer field when the rockets hit," Save the Children said.
In 2014, the Houthi rebels overran large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has been conducting a military operation against the Houthis with other countries on the side of the internationally recognized government.
The Sunni kingdom sees them as an ally of its Shiite nemesis Iran.
The conflict over the desperately poor country in the south of the Arabian Peninsula has intensified again in recent 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.
UN Security Council condemns "heinous terrorist attacks"
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday at the request of the United Arab Emirates over Monday's attack.
Council members unanimously condemned the "heinous terrorist attacks" by the Houthis in Abu Dhabi.
However, the Norwegian UN ambassador Mona Juul also described the recent attacks in Yemen as "unacceptable".
Norway currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on all parties to the conflict to "de-escalate" in view of "more than 100 victims in the past few days".
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an end to the "escalation" of the Yemen conflict.
He condemned the airstrikes in Saada and Hodeida as well as the Houthi rebels' drone attack.
He reminds all parties to the conflict "that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law".
dop/dpa/AFP
