Airstrikes believed to have come from a coalition led by Saudi Arabia reportedly killed an estimated 70 people and injured at least 138 others Friday at a prison in northern Yemen.
The strike took place in Saada, a northern city near the country’s border with Saudi Arabia, Doctors Without Borders said. Another airstrike earlier Friday is believed to have hit a telecommunications facility in the city of Hodeida and cut off internet connection in most of the country, according to NetBlocks, which monitors global network disruptions.
“From what I hear from my colleague in Saada, there are many bodies still at the scene of the airstrike, many missing people. It is impossible to know how many people have been killed. It seems to have been a horrific act of violence,” said Ahmed Mahat, who leads the MSF mission in Yemen.
Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war between the Houthi rebels and the Hadis since 2014. The Houthis are a predominantly Shiite Muslim group that the United States believes is backed by Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country.
The Houthis control large sections of northern Yemen and have been campaigning to take control of the country, according to CNN. In 2015, Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim-majority country, intervened and began a military campaign against Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen.
Local media, controlled by Houthi rebels, suggested the airstrikes Friday came from the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized Hadi government, according to the New York Times. The coalition told the Associated Press that it conducted airstrikes near Hodeida, but it did not confirm whether it struck the telecommunications building in the city or the prison in Saada.
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Taha al Motawakel, the health minister in the Houthi government, confirmed the airstrike on the prison to the AP and said he expects the death toll to rise. At least three children are believed to have died in the prison airstrike, according to Save the Children.
Earlier this week, the Houthis claimed credit for a drone strike that killed at least three people in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The coalition said Tuesday it responded with airstrikes against Houthi camps in Yemen, according to the Guardian.
