Yemen rebels say 'dozens' killed in Sanaa air raids

Yemen rebels say 'dozens' killed in Sanaa air raids
Houthi rebels have accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting them in Yemen of killing dozens of people and wounding hundreds more in airstrikes on Sanaa.
2 min read
08 October, 2016
The Saudi-led coalition have been accused of human rights abuses in Yemen [AFP]
Rebels in control of Yemen's capital accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting them of killing and wounding dozens of people in airstrikes on Sanaa on Saturday.

The insurgent-controlled news site sabanews.net said that coalition planes hit a building in the capital where people had gathered to mourn the death of the father of a prominent rebel figure.

"Dozens of citizens fell as martyrs or were wounded in this attack by planes of the Saudi-American aggression," the site said, referring to Saudi-led jets.

There was no immediate information on the exact number of people killed.

The rebels said people had gathered at the site of the raids to pay their respects to the father of the rebel interior minister Jalal al-Rowaishan, adding that the minister's fate was unknown.

Yemen's Houthi rebels swept into Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced across much of the country, forcing the internationally recognised government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the capital.

More than 6,700 people - most of them civilians - have been killed in Yemen since the coalition intervened in March 2015 in support Hadi, the United Nations says.

The Saudi-led alliance has come under intense scrutiny in recent months over the allegedly high civilian death toll in its aerial campaign.