An airstrike that hit a refugee camp in northern Yemen killed dozens of people on Monday. The attack was said to be the single deadliest attack since the Saudi Arabia-led coalition sent warplanes to target and bomb Shiite insurgents advancing across the country.
The spokesman for the International Organization for Migration Joel Millman-who also runs the aid programs at the facility-said that the airstrike killed approximately 40 people and 200 were wounded. The refuge is known as Mazraq camp in Haijah province, which was established mainly to house displaced people in Yemen, The Guardian reported.
The Yemeni Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, suspect the Saudi-led coalition of attacking the camp which is located in an area under the power of the insurgents. However, the Saudi officials did not confirm the allegation.
But according to Washington Post in reference to the official Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, a coalition spokesman, was asked about the bombing and said that the rebels were setting up position in noncombatant areas and that the coalition warplanes had taken fire on Monday from a residential area, forcing a decisive response.
At least 10 countries have joined the coalition spearheaded by Saudi Arabia against the Houthis, while the US government provides logistical and intelligence support to the operation. The air attacks began on Thursday in an attempt to prop up the president of the neighboring country Yemen in the face of an offensive by the insurgents.
The attacks primarily focuses on the threat of worsening civilian casualties in what is becoming a full-scale civil war in this rather impoverished Arabian Peninsula country-which is said to be an alarming affiliate of al-Qaeda. According to the residents, warships from the Saudi Arabia coalition entered the fight, striking the southern city of Aden.