ANSD : Arab coalition says will probe airstrike that killed 40 kids

SAT 27 - 4 - 2024

Date: Aug 11, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

Arab coalition says will probe airstrike that killed 40 kids

_Reuters
SANAA/DUBAI/GENEVA: An Arab coalition said Friday it would investigate an airstrike that killed dozens of children in Yemen, as the U.N. Security Council called for an independent probe. At least 40 children were killed in Thursday’s strike on a bus in northern Yemen, the armed Houthi group that controls Yemen’s capital said. That raised the toll of children killed in the raid from 29.

The strike by the Western-backed alliance of Arab countries outraged human rights groups and was strongly condemned by U.N. officials. Henrietta Fore, executive director of the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF, said the “horrific” attack marked “a low point in [Yemen’s] brutal war.”

People in Saada started to dig graves in preparation for funerals to be held Saturday. “God may give us patience,” said Hussein Hussein Tayeb, who lost three sons on the bus, on a trip with other pupils to visit a mosque and tombs.

“I was one of the first to arrive on the scene, seeking to rescue the wounded; I lifted a body and I found that it was Ahmad’s face. I hugged him, he was my son.”

Ahmad was 11. His brothers Youssef and Ali were 14 and 9.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation of the raid that hit the bus as it drove through a market in Dahyan, a town in the Houthis’ home province of Saada.

The U.N. Security Council Friday called for a “credible and transparent” investigation after receiving a closed-door briefing on the strike by a senior U.N. official.

A Reuters TV crew saw boys injured in the strike lying on beds in the Dahyan hospital, many with their heads wrapped. The face of one was covered in lacerations.

The Arab coalition carried out new airstrikes, killing a girl and injuring several other people whose home was targeted in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa, the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV said.

Announcing the investigation into the strike, the Saudi Press Agency quoted an alliance official as saying: “The coalition is firmly committed to investigating all claims regarding mistakes or violations of international law, to sanction those who caused these incidents and to provide assistance to the victims.”

The Arab states initially said the

airstrikes on the bus were “legitimate military action” against missile launchers, carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law.Al-Masirah TV cited the Houthi Health Minister Taha Mutawakil as saying the estimated number of casualties stood at 51 killed including 40 children, and at least 79 people wounded, including 56 children.

The International Committee of the Red Cross reported the same toll Friday, citing authorities in Saada. It had said on its Twitter account Thursday its medical team at the ICRC-supported hospital in Saada had received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. The hospital also received 48 wounded people, among them 30 children.

Al-Masirah TV said Houthis had fired a number of ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia, targeting Jizan and Aseer provinces, which lie at the border. Saudi Arabia intercepted two missiles fired at Jizan, Al-Arabiya TV reported.

The head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee Mohammad Ali al-Houthi hailed Friday’s call by Guterres for an independent investigation into the airstrike. In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said France condemned the strike and backed a U.N. call to bring all parties in the war together for talks in Geneva on Sept. 6.

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