Eight women and a child were killed in an overnight air raid on a funeral reception near Sanaa, medics in the Yemeni capital said today. At least 10 more women were reported wounded in the raid, which hit the women's reception area at a funeral in Arhab district, 40 kilometres north of Sanaa. Medics dispatched to the incident identified the site as the residence of Mohammed Al Nakii in the village of Shiraa.
Casualties were transported to hospitals in Sanaa. Huthi rebels, who control the capital, accused a Saudi-backed coalition of carrying out the strike. A coalition spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. A post on the Huthi-run Saba Net news site late yesterday gave an initial toll of six women killed and 10 wounded.
Yemen's war pits the internationally recognised government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Iran-backed Huthis allied with forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The conflict spiralled in March 2015, when the coalition began targeting the Shiite rebels, who had seized control of Sanaa. The United Nations says more than 7,400 people, including around 1,400 children, have been killed in violence across Yemen since then.
Published 16 February 2017, 07:20 IST