Airstrikes killed more than 30 civilians in a mountainous northern Yemeni province on Saturday, the UN humanitarian chief for the country said, calling the attack “shocking.”
The rebel Houthis accused the Saudi-led coalition of launching retaliatory airstrikes after they shot down a coalition warplane over the province of Jawf.
Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency quoted Colonel Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, as saying that it was investigating “possible collateral damage” from a rescue operation in the area after the downing of the Tornado warplane late on Friday.
Al-Maliki was quoted as saying the jet was providing air support for Yemeni government forces fighting the Houthis.
The two-pilot crew of the Tornado ejected safely before the crash, he said, adding that the Houthis opened fire on them.
The Houthis were responsible for the pilots’ “life and safety,” al-Maliki said, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
He did not say whether there were causalities or provide further details.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Lise Grande, said “these terrible strikes” in Al-Maslub district killed at least 31 civilians and wounded 12 others, according to preliminary field reports.
“So many people are being killed in Yemen — it’s a tragedy and it’s unjustified. Five years into this conflict and belligerents are still failing to uphold this responsibility,” she said. “It’s shocking.”
She said many wounded were taken to hospitals in Jawf and Yemen’s capital, Sana’a.
Youssef al-Hadri, spokesman for the Houthi-run Yemeni Ministry of Health, said that the airstrikes killed at least 32 people, including women and children.
The humanitarian group Save the Children condemned the airstrike, saying that it showed that the conflict in Yemen was “not slowing down.”
“This latest attack must be urgently and independently investigated, and perpetrators held to account,” said Xavier Joubert, the charity’s country director in Yemen.
He called for halting arms sales to the warring parties in Yemen’s conflict.
“Those who continue to sell arms to the warring parties must realize that by supplying weapons for this war, they contribute to making atrocities like today’s all too common,” Joubert said.
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