Women and children dead in Sanna after fatal air strike
ADVERTISEMENTAt least nine people have been killed, including eight women and a child, following an overnight air strike on a funeral party near the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Houthi rebels claim the Saudi-backed coalition carried out the attack.
Medics say a number of women and children were also injured.
Deadly MASSACRE: 9 women/children killed & 12 injured when Saudi airstrikes attacked family funeral gathering in #Yemen region Arhab today. pic.twitter.com/yjNNboXHEE
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) February 15, 2017
In another raid first responders are alleged to have been targeted in Arhab, 40km from Sanna.
After more than 21 months of conflict as many as 18 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen.
Pic from Arhab women funeral gathering which targeted by Saudi airstrikes killing 8&10 injuries women & children #Saudi crimes in #Yemenpic.twitter.com/ZBYqYjw96L
— Abu Zeid Alkebsy (@abdullaalkebsy) February 15, 2017
Close to 8,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and 38,280 others injured in the conflict between a Saudi-led coalition and a Houthi rebel movement aligned to Iran.
Djeon Besselink is from Doctors Without Borders: “Our patients on both sides of the frontline have been injured by shelling while preparing lunch in their kitchens, wounded by air strikes while walking in fields, maimed by landmines while herding their livestock, shot by snipers in the street outside of their homes.”
Yemen has been blighted by years of instability, corrupt government, a breakdown of law and order law, under-development, environmental decline and widespread poverty.