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| Saudi-led strikes kill 30 in northern Yemen |
| 2015-07-06 |
| Sanaa -- Air strikes by Saudi-led forces killed 30 civilians in an attack on a market in northern Yemen on Sunday, the Houthi-run news agency Saba said, as UN mediators pushed for a humanitarian pause in fighting that has killed nearly 3,000 since March. Saba also said Houthi forces launched rockets against a number of Saudi army positions, including a military airport in the southern city of Najran, in response to what it described as Saudi aggression against Yemen. An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been pounding the Iran-backed Houthi forces and allied army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh since March in a campaign to restore exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to power. Saba said the air strike targeted the Aahem market in Hajjah province, where preliminary figures showed that 30 civilians were killed and an unspecified number of people were wounded. “The Saudi enemy targeted citizens while they were doing their shopping at Aahem market,” the agency quoted a security source in Hajjah as saying. Residents confirmed an air strike on the market but gave no figures on casualties, saying the Houthis closed off the area and were transporting casualties to hospitals. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for a comment. On the attacks on Saudi military positions, Saba said that the Yemeni army launched several strikes on Al Sharafa army camp and the military airport in Najran and on tanks stationed north of the Al Khoba region of the Saudi province of Jizan. It said one Saudi soldier was killed at an observation tower in Dhahran Aseer, where an armoured vehicle was also destroyed, while a tank was destroyed and dozens of soldiers were wounded at Al Makhrooq post in Najran when it was attacked with artillery and rocket fire. |
| Posted by:Steve White |