At least 43 killed, including children travelling on a bus, after Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen
Saudi Arabia and Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting in Yemen for more than three years against the Iran-aligned Houthis
An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels hit a bus in a market in northern Yemen on Thursday, killing at least 43 people, including children, and wounding as many as 63, Yemen’s rebel-run Health Ministry said.
The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said it targeted the rebels, known as Houthis, who had fired a missile at the kingdom’s south the previous day, killing one person.
Yemen’s rebel-run Al Masirah TV aired dramatic images of wounded children, their clothes and schoolbags covered with blood as they lay on hospital stretchers.
The attack took place in the Dahyan market in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold. The province lies along the border with Saudi Arabia. The bus was ferrying local civilians, including many children, according to Yemeni tribal leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The elders said earlier the air strike killed at least 20 people and wounded as many as 35.
There was no breakdown in the casualties and it was not immediately clear how many of the victims were on the bus itself and how many were pedestrians in the immediate area around it. It was also unclear if there were other air strikes in the area.