In the middle of the night, an airstrike hit a prison in Sa’ada, a Houthi stronghold in northern Yemen.
At least 70 people were killed and a hundred were injured. on Friday in a bombing raid on a rebel-controlled prison in Yemen, an attack attributed to the Saudi-led coalition.
A few hours earlier, on Thursday night, the coalition, which has been intervening since 2015 in the war-torn country, claimed responsibility for a bombing in the city of Hodeida (west), which according to an NGO cost the lives of three children.
Saudi Arabia leads the military coalition of Muslim countriesincluding the United Arab Emirates, which supports Yemeni government forces against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
In the middle of the night, an airstrike hit a prison in Sa’ada, a Houthi stronghold in northern Yemen.
At least 70 people died and 138 were injured, according to the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which denounced the “horrible” attack.
This figure only refers to one hospital in Sa’ada, since “two other establishments have received numerous injuries”. An MSF spokesman said that “searches are still being carried out in the rubble of the prison”.
It was not immediately clear who and how many were held at Sa’ada.
The attack has not been claimed but the Houthis accused the coalition of carrying out a “crime” in Sa’ada.
Bombing in Yemen is carried out by the coalition, which controls the country’s airspace.
The rebels released a video showing the attack on the prison, with buildings destroyed, rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble and mutilated corpses lying nearby.
“From what I have heard from colleagues in Sa’ada, there are many bodies at the scene of the attack, and many are missing,” Ahmed Mahat, MSF’s head of mission in Yemen, said in a statement.
“Is not acceptable”
The attack on the prison “is not acceptable”, said the Norwegian ambassador to the UN, Mona Juul, acting president of the UN this January, calling for a “de-escalation”.
Hours earlier, late on Thursday, the port city of Hodeida was bombed by the coalition. At least three children died, according to the NGO Save the Children.
“Apparently the children were playing on a nearby soccer field when the missiles hit,” said the NGO’s director in Yemen, Gillian Moyes.
The coalition said it had targeted a “piracy and organized crime hotspot” in Hodeida.
The NetBlocks organization, which specializes in internet surveillance around the world, reported a “collapse of internet connections in the country” after the bombing. AFP correspondents in Hodeida and Sana’a confirmed the blackout.
Through Hodeida passes most of the humanitarian aid destined for the country, vital in the war.
“Mistakes”?
During the conflict in Yemen, the military coalition has been accused of multiple “mistakes” in its attacks resulting in civilian deaths. And although he acknowledged “mistakes”, he accuses the Houthi rebels of using civilians as human shields.
The attacks come after rebels on Monday claimed responsibility for a drone and missile attack on oil facilities and airports in Abu Dhabi., the capital of the Emirates, in which three people died.
Meeting in New York, members of the UN Security Council on Friday condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous terrorist attacks in Abu Dhabi” in a statement approved unanimously at a special closed-door session convened by the Emirates. (I)
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