At least 29 children have been killed and 30 wounded in a Saudi-led coalition air strike in Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.

The children were travelling on a bus that was hit at a market in Dahyan, in the northern province of Saada. </s> Image copyright Save the Children Image caption Save the Children International's chief executive said the attack breached international law

A charity has condemned an air strike near a hospital in rebel-held north-western Yemen that killed at least eight people, five of them children.

A missile hit a petrol station 50m (164ft) from the entrance of the Kitaf rural hospital on Tuesday morning, according to Save the Children.

The blast also injured eight people.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, but a Saudi-led coalition is carrying out air strikes in support of the government in Yemen's civil war.

The coalition insists it never deliberately targets civilians, but human rights groups have accused it of bombing markets, schools, hospitals and residential areas.

Tuesday was the fourth anniversary of the escalation of the civil war, which has killed thousands and pushed millions to the brink of starvation.

What happened in Kitaf?

Save the Children says the petrol station in the area, which is 60km (40 miles) from the city of Saada, was struck by a missile at about 09:30 (06:30 GMT) on Tuesday, as many people were arriving at the nearby hospital.

An eight-year-old boy was the youngest person killed. Another boy aged 10, two boys aged 12, and one boy aged 14 also lost their lives.

Image copyright Save the Children Image caption The rebel Houthi movement blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the attack

One injured health worker, who was in the emergency room treating two young children when the strike happened, said: "All people were screaming and running out of the hospital. The structure of the hospital was totally damaged inside. Our colleague lost two children. They were burned.

"I got injured in my head and I was bleeding. I ran away from the hospital with my colleague to a safe place but we found nothing that could help me stop the bleeding. It was the most difficult moment of my life."

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the chief executive of Save the Children International, said she was "shocked and appalled by this outrageous attack" on a medical facility that the charity supported, and she demanded an urgent investigation.

"Innocent children and health workers have lost their lives in what appears to been an indiscriminate attack on a hospital in a densely populated civilian area. Attacks like these are a breach of international law," she added.

This hospital was "de-conflicted", which means all the warring parties were made aware of its location and were obliged to avoid it by a radius of 100m.

Residents and the rebel Houthi movement blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the attack, and Save the Children noted that the only warring party with access to planes that can carry out air strikes is the coalition.

The rebel-run health ministry condemned the "coalition's continued disregard for Yemeni lives" and said it had committed four war crimes in targeting the hospital.

There was no immediate comment from coalition officials.

Save the Children reported on Monday that at least 226 Yemeni children had been killed and 217 more injured in air raids carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in the past year.

Why is there a war in Yemen?

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in March 2015, when the Houthis seized control of much of the west of the country and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.

Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and seven other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The hidden victims of the Yemen war

The UN says at least 7,025 civilians have been killed and 11,140 injured in the fighting. Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.

About 80% of the population - 24 million people - need humanitarian assistance and protection.

About 20 million need help securing food, including almost 10 million who the UN says are just a step away from famine. Almost 240,000 of those people are facing "catastrophic levels of hunger".

Yemen has also struggled to deal with the largest cholera outbreak ever recorded, which has resulted in 1.49 million suspected cases and 2,960 related deaths. </s> March 27 (UPI) -- A hospital in Yemen supported by Save the Children was hit by an airstrike, killing seven people and injuring eight others, the NGO said.

Four children were among the dead and two adults were still unaccounted for following a missile striking a gas station near the entrance to the Kitaf rural hospital at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the organization said.

Save the Children said the hospital had only opened a half hour earlier and was attacked as patients and staff were arriving during the busy morning.

Nearby buildings including a pharmacy were destroyed in the blast.

Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, called the attack "a breach of international law."

"We are shocked and appalled by this outrageous attack," she said in a statement. "Innocent children and health workers have lost their lives in what appears to have been an indiscriminate attack on a hospital in a densely populated civilian area."

Also among the dead were a health worker and her two children as well as a security guard, it said.

"These children have the right to be safe in their hospitals, schools and homes," she said. "But time after time, we see a complete disregard by all warring parties in Yemen for the basic rules of war."

Last week Save the Children reported that last year, 37 children a month had been killed or injured by foreign bombs.

It is demanding an urgent investigation into this most recent attack.

The attack also coincided with the fourth anniversary of the start of the civil war between the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The United Nation has called the humanitarian crisis created by the civil war "the world's worst" as some 24 million people, or 80 percent of the population, need assistance.

Save the Children is calling for full diplomatic pressure to be applied to both parties to resolve the conflict and for those who commit violations of international law to be held accountable.

"Children must be protected," Miles said. "We must stop this war on children." </s> The Red Cross confirmed that the attack killed and injured dozens, many of whom were children under the age of 10.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF said it was “very concerned with the initial reports of children being killed” with UNICEF’s resident representative in Yemen saying that she is witnessing the “horror the images and videos coming from Saada… Why are children being killed?”

RT reports: The bus was in the Dahyan Market in northern Sa’ada, a Houthi rebel stronghold, when it was attacked on Thursday morning. “Following an attack… [an International Committee of the Red Cross-supported] hospital has received dozens of dead and wounded,” the Red Cross confirmed, adding that “under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict.”

“Scores killed, even more injured, most under the age of 10,” said Johannes Bruwer, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen, adding that the organization is “sending additional supplies to hospitals to cope with the influx.”

Abdul-Ghani Nayeb, head of a health department in Sa’ada, told Reuters that the death toll has so far risen to 43. Some 61 are understood to be wounded. The bus was transporting civilians, including many school children, but it is not clear how many of the casualties were bus passengers and how many were pedestrians on the surrounding street.

In a statement released by state news agency SPA, the Saudi-led coalition claimed its airstrikes in Saada were aimed at missile launchers used to attack Jiza, a city in southern Saudi Arabia.

“Today’s attack in Saada was a legitimate military operation… it conformed to international and humanitarian laws,” said coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki in the statement. The statement also accused the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels of using children as human shields.

Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Muslim allies have been fighting in Yemen for more than three years against the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels. The rebels control a significant portion of northern Yemen, including the country’s capital Sana’a, which was also targeted by airstrikes later on Thursday. </s> An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Thursday morning killed at least 50 people including dozens of children traveling on a bus in the country's Saada Province, local health officials said.The International Committee of the Red Cross said its medical teams received the bodies of 29 children, all under the age of 15. They also received 48 injured people, including 30 children, the ICRC said.Yemen's rebel-run Al Masirah TV aired footage of injured children weeping as blood streamed down their faces. Some of the children carried blue UNICEF backpacks, spotted with blood.Col. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, which has the backing of the U.S. government, said the coalition had launched an operation in Saada in response to Houthi fighters firing a missile on the Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday evening.Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said the Saudi-led coalition had showed no regard for civilian lives by targeting a school bus in a crowded public space.Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement that U.S. Central Command was not involved in the airstrike in Saada."U.S. military support to our partners mitigates noncombatant casualties, by improving coalition processes and procedures, especially regarding compliance with the law of armed conflict and best practices for reducing the risk of civilian casualties," she said.Save the Children's staff on the ground in Saada said the children were on their way back to school from a picnic when the attack happened.Sylvia Ghaly, director of advocacy in Yemen for Save the Children, said the children were between the ages of 6 and 15."From where we sit as humanitarian actors, we don't see the military targets, we see civilians being targeted and children being killed, and at the same time we don't see anyone being held accountable for the attacks," she told ABC News. "It's not good enough to say that this was a mistake or that it was collateral damage. At the end of the day, that child has a name and that child is the son or daughter of someone who will grief for a long time."She added that Save the Children is calling for an immediate, independent investigation into the attack. Ghaly said that when she entered the province of Saada, a Houthi stronghold, many buildings had basically been reduced to rubble.Meritxell Relano, UNICEF's representative in Yemen, said children of Yemen face a bleak future."The future of the children of Yemen is dark," she told ABC News. "Right now, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel -- no peace, no agreement, no cessation of hostilities. An entire generation of children will be lost and how will this country be reconstructed in the future?"Yemen is one of the world's poorest countries and the war has made conditions much worse: More than 22 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and half of the country's health facilities are out of service.The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthis in the country since March 2015 after the Houthis took over the capital of Sanaa and forced interim president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and his government to flee the country. An Arab Sunni coalition led by Saudi Arabia then launched a war to restore Hadi's government to power -- a military campaign that is supported by the U.S. The coalition has been blamed by the United Nations for most of the civilian deaths in Yemen. </s> A three-year-old girl died on Monday after being seriously wounded when a man went on a stabbing spree in the US state of Idaho two days before, police said.

The girl was evacuated by air to neighboring Utah for treatment, but did not survive her injuries, police said in a statement.

"Of the other eight victims, one child has been treated and released from the hospital. Seven victims remain in the hospital, many with serious or critical injuries," according to police.

The Saturday night attack took place at a toddler's birthday party in a low-income apartment complex for refugees.

The suspect, identified by police as Timmy Kinner, 30, of Los Angeles, was apparently motivated by revenge after being asked to leave the residence in the state capital, Boise, on Friday.

He then returned on Saturday night, first targeting the children attending the birthday party, then the adults who tried to protect them.

Kinner was scheduled to appear in court on Monday for his arraignment. </s> Red Cross says strike hit bus at market in Dahyan, in rebel-held north of country

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Saudi Arabia is facing an international outcry after at least 29 children were among dozens of civilians killed by a US-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a bus in Yemen’s Houthi rebel-held north.

The attack was the latest coalition bombing raid to hit civilians; previous airstrikes have hit markets, schools and hospitals. Humanitarian workers on the ground said the latest incident must shake the world’s conscience about atrocities committed continuing during Yemen’s deadlocked three-year war.

Save the Children, quoting its staff on the ground, said the children were on a bus heading back to school from a picnic at the time of the attack when the driver stopped to get a drink at the market in Dahyan, in Sa’ada governorate.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the few humanitarian institutions helping civilians in war-torn Yemen, said its team at an ICRC-supported hospital in Sa’ada had received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. It also received 48 wounded people, including 30 children, it said.

“Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict,” the ICRC tweeted.

Abdul-Ghani Sareeh, from the Sa’ada health department, told Reuters the attack had killed 43 people and wounded 63.

The attack was condemned by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who called for “an independent and prompt investigation”.



“The secretary general emphasises that all parties must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations,” said a spokesman for Guterres.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV broadcast unverified footage of dead and bloodied children, many still carrying their blue Unicef rucksacks, being transferred to a hospital.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi press agency, the Saudi-led coalition called the strike a “legitimate military action” targeting elements responsible for a Houthi missile attack on the Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday. “[The airstrikes] conformed to international and humanitarian laws,” the statement said. It accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of using children as human shields.

The coalition, also backed by the UAE, launched a military intervention in Yemen in 2015 aimed at countering the advances of the Houthi rebels, who are viewed by Riyadh as Iranian proxies, and reinstating the ousted president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The International Rescue Committee said it was appalled by Thursday’s incident and called for an inquiry.

The IRC’s Yemen country director, Frank McManus, said: “Today should be the day the world wakes up to the atrocities going on in Yemen … a bus full of school children cannot be viewed as mere collateral damage. Even wars have rules, but rules without consequences mean nothing. If there is any chance of innocent lives, especially those of children, being lost in an attack, that attack should not take place.”

Unicef’s regional director in the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, asked: “Does the world really need more innocent children’s lives to stop the cruel war on children in Yemen?”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A doctor treats an injured child. Photograph: Naif Rahma/Reuters

In Washington, a state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called for the coalition to investigate the incident.

“We are certainly concerned about the reports that there was an attack that resulted in the deaths of civilians,” she said. “We call on the Saudi-led coalition to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident.”

Recent fighting in Yemen has focused on the port city of Hodeidah, through which most of Yemen’s aid and food arrives.



Saudi and UAE forces have advanced towards Hodeidah, which is held by the Houthis, prompting an intensification of Houthi missile attacks on Saudi targets. Two Houthi missile attacks on oil tankers off the Yemeni coast in recent weeks led to Saudi Arabia temporarily suspending oil shipments through the strategic shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb.

The Saudi-led coalition was accused of carrying out airstrikes on 2 August near a fish market and hospital in Hodeidah that killed 55 people and injured 130 more.

The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that since June, when fighting around Hodeidah escalated, its partners in the area had registered 50,500 displaced households.

“So many people have died in Yemen – this conflict has to stop,” said Lise Grande, the UN’s Yemen humanitarian coordinator.

Helen Lackner, author of Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, Neo-Liberalism and the Disintegration of a State , said any escalation of war in Hodeidah would be catastrophic.

“From the humanitarian point of view, [any escalation of war in Hodaidah city] will be a disaster. It will cause massive worsening of disease, cholera, of death, or hunger,” she said. “The remaining population in Hodaideh, which must be at least 400,000 people, are going to have an extremely bad time because street-by-street fighting plus airstrikes on low-quality cement buildings is going to be really damaging.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Smoke rises after an airstrike over Yemen. Photograph: Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters

The coalition has been criticised for repeatedly targeting civilian areas, including markets and hospitals, during the conflict, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives and left millions of people on the brink of starvation.

UN envoy confirms first Yemen peace talks in two years Read more

It carried out 258 airstrikes on Yemen in June alone, nearly a third of which hit residential areas, according to the Yemen Data Project, an independent group collecting statistics about the conflict.

The situation in Yemen has been described as the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. Between January and May, aid agencies helped 7.5 million people, the OCHA said this month. The Houthis also stand accused of causing civilian deaths.

According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade, the UK has licensed £4.7bn worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia since 2015, including £2.7bn worth of aircraft, helicopters, and drones, and £1.9bn worth of weapons systems such as grenades, bombs and missiles.

Andrew Smith, from the organisation, said: “This atrocity cannot be ignored. The UK government has been utterly complicit in the destruction. It has armed and supported the Saudi-led coalition right from the start. The death toll has spiralled and the humanitarian crisis has only got worse, and yet the arms sales have continued.”

Fabian Hamilton, the shadow minister for peace and disarmament, called on Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt to suspend all arms export licences to Saudi Arabia until a ceasefire is agreed in Yemen. “The idea that British weapons could have been used in this attack, in which innocent children have died, is sickening,” he said. </s> A Saudi-led coalition battling in Yemen said it carried out an attack in the rebel-held north on Thursday that the Red Cross said hit a bus carrying children, leaving dozens of people dead or wounded.

The coalition called the strike a "legitimate military action" that targeted Iran-backed Huthi rebels responsible for a deadly missile attack on the Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday.

But the International Committee of the Red Cross said the strike hit a bus filled with children, causing dozens of casualties.

"Following an attack this morning on a bus driving children in Dahyan Market, northern Saada, (an ICRC-supported) hospital has received dozens of dead and wounded," the organisation said on Twitter without giving more details.

"Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict," the ICRC added.

The Huthi rebels' Al-Masirah TV reported that 39 people had been killed and 51 wounded, "mostly children".

It was not possible to independently verify the toll.

"Does the world really need more innocent children´s lives to stop the cruel war on children in Yemen?" the UN children's agency asked.

Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF's regional director in the Middle East and North Africa, said all the children on the bus were "reportedly under the age of 15".

"STOP CRUELTY AGAINST CHILDREN.. NO Excuses anymore!" the agency said.

The coalition, which also includes the United Arab Emirates, intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government after the rebels drove it out of the capital Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia shot down a missile fired by the Huthis on Wednesday, with debris killing a Yemeni man and wounding 11 others, the coalition said.

The missile was fired from the rebel-held Yemeni province of Amran towards Jizan, the coalition said.

"The coalition will take all necessary measures against the terrorist, criminal acts of the Huthi militia, such as recruiting child soldiers, throwing them in battlefields and using them as tools," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said, referring to Thursday's attack.

The Huthis have in recent months ramped up missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh usually says it intercepts.

Wednesday's attack brings the tally to 165 rebel missiles launched since 2015, according to the coalition, which that year joined the Yemeni government's fight against Huthi rebels.

On August 2, attacks on a hospital and a fish market in the strategic rebel-held port city of Hodeida killed at least 55 civilians and wounded 170, according to the ICRC.

The coalition denied responsibility for those attacks.

The war in the impoverished country has left nearly 10,000 people dead and unleashed what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, told the Security Council last week that "a political solution" to end the war in Yemen was "available" and that the warring sides would be invited to talks on September 6 in Geneva.

UN-brokered negotiations on Yemen broke down in 2016 amid demands for a rebel withdrawal from key cities and power-sharing with the Saudi-backed government. </s> Save The Children: 7 killed in airstrike on Yemen hospital

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Save The Children says a hospital it supports in Yemen has been hit by an airstrike and seven people have been killed.

The humanitarian organization said in a statement that four of those killed were children. It said eight people were wounded and two adults are unaccounted for.

Save The Children said a missile struck a gasoline station near the entrance to Ritaf rural hospital, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the city of Saada in northwestern Yemen at 9:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

It said: "The missile was said to have landed within 50 meters of the facility's main building."

The organization said the hospital had open been open for half an hour and many patients and staff were arriving on a busy morning.
A child is killed and three other children are wounded in an attack in Samarinda.