A Saudi-led airstrike in Taiz Province, Yemen, killed at least 55 people and left others injured, Houthi-controlled news agency Saba said yesterday.
Other sources said more than 120 civilians had been killed and more than 150 wounded after shelling in a residential area on Friday evening.
A coalition of Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, has been bombarding Iran-allied Houthi forces in Yemen since late March in a bid to reinstate Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled to Riyadh.
Photo: Reuters
Saba quoted a source in Taiz as saying that the bombing targeted the town of Mokha in an area inhabited mostly by engineers and workers of a power station, as well as some displaced families.
The number of casualties was expected to rise, as rescue services were still working in the area and several of those injured and transferred to nearby hospitals are in serious condition, the source said.
Yemeni officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said that most of the houses in the area were leveled and a fire broke out in the port city of Mokha. Most of the corpses, including children, women and elderly people, were charred by the flames, they said.
Ahmed Mohammed al-Mouzay, a resident of the area who helped in rescue operations, said most of his neighbors had been killed.
Many of the dead and wounded were transported in private cars or in animal-drawn carts drawn to hospitals, he said.
A Yemeni security official said it was not possible to move the injured into the provincial capital because of road closures due to ongoing fighting.
Security officials said the attack came after Saudi-led coalition planes launched dozens of airstrikes on positions of Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies in Mokha.
The closest Houthi outpost to Friday evening’s deadly strike is at least 5km away, officials and area residents said.
Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
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