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Saudi Arabia led coalition raid kills four Yemen civilians
A suspected Saudi-led coalition air strike on Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa has killed four members of the same family, medics and witnesses said on Friday.
A suspected Saudi-led coalition air strike on Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa has killed four members of the same family, medics and witnesses said on Friday.
They said the overnight air strike hit a house in the south of the city.
The four civilians, including two teenagers, died “in a strike by the coalition that targeted a civilian house behind the presidential palace in the south of the capital”, a medical source said.
Witnesses said the building was totally destroyed and three neighbouring houses were damaged in the strike.
“We were at home when the air strike occurred and destroyed our neighbour’s house,” said Najad Ahmad.
Ahmad Nasser al-Orami, whose house was one of three damaged in the raid, said he was out with his family having dinner and discovered on his return what had happened.
“Shame on them,” he said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Shiite Huthi rebels who control Sanaa and oppose the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
The coalition, which intervened on the government side two years ago, has come under repeated criticism over civilian casualties in Yemen.
It has acknowledged responsibility in some cases, including for an air strike in October 2016 that killed 140 people and wounded 525 others at a funeral in Sanaa.
Coalition planes have used banned cluster munitions and killed two times more civilians than other forces, according to the United Nations.
The conflict in Yemen has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded around 40,000, the UN’s World Health Organization says.
