Middle East

Twenty-two civilians killed, including children, in North Yemen: UN

DUBAI (Reuters) – Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 22 civilians, including women and children, in a village in northern Yemen, the United Nations said on Monday.

Medical sources quoted by the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen said the attacks in Kushar district, in Hajja Province, killed 10 women and 12 children and wounded 30 people, including 14 under the age of 18.

“Many of the injured children have been sent to hospitals in Abs district and in Sanaa for treatment and several require possible evacuation to survive,” the U.N. Coordinator in the country, Lise Grande, said in a statement.

The Houthis’ Al Masirah television said the air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition had killed 23 civilians.

A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment, but Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV said the Houthis were behind the attack.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than two million and driven the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country to the verge of famine.

Iran-aligned Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014, saying they were fighting a revolution against corrupt politicians and Gulf powers in thrall to the West.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power. It has conducted thousands of air strikes targeting the Houthis, and has often hit civilians, but it denies doing so intentionally.

Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Andrew Heavens

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