Yemen air strikes kill at least 16 people – local officials

Seven children are among those killed in twin raids by Saudi-led coalition in southern Yemen, an official and a doctor say.

In this file phote, Red Crescent medics stand at the site of Saudi-led air strikes on a Houthi detention centre in Dhamar, Yemen. September 1, 2019.
Reuters Archive

In this file phote, Red Crescent medics stand at the site of Saudi-led air strikes on a Houthi detention centre in Dhamar, Yemen. September 1, 2019.

Seven children were among 16 people killed on Tuesday in twin air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in southern Yemen, an official and a doctor said.

"Sixteen people, including women and children, were killed and nine others injured" in a coalition air raid targeting a residence in Daleh province, a local official told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

A doctor at Al Thawra hospital in Ibb province where the bodies were taken said seven children and four women were among the dead.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels condemned the coalition for its "continued aggression" against the Yemeni people, according to their Al Masirah TV.

The coalition could not immediately be reached for comment.

Tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, have been killed since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in March 2015 in support of the beleaguered government.

The fighting has also displaced millions and left 24.1 million ⁠— more than two-thirds of the population ⁠— in need of aid.

The UN has described Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

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