Some 130 civilians killed in Yemeni wedding carnage: reports

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed on Tuesday that some 130 civilians had allegedly been killed by a Saudi-led airstrike which hit a wedding party in Wahijah, located in Yemen's Taizz Governorate.

OHCHR spokesman Rupert Colville said their office and team in Yemen had received the reports and were working to verify the details.

UNHCR indicated that if the number of fatalities proved to be correct, the incident could be the single deadliest incident to have struck the country since the start of the conflict in March this year.

"The spokesperson for the coalition forces denied that there had been an airstrike, but the Yemeni government in exile seems to have acknowledged there had been one and said it was a mistake," Coleville explained, adding that "the precise details remain to be ascertained."

If these numbers prove accurate, they would add to this month's high number of civilian casualties who have either died or been injured by indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling carried out by both sides to the conflict.

Often affecting residential areas, such attacks have been raging to varying degrees in 11 of the country's Governorates, OHCHR indicated.

Figures show that between Sept. 11 and 24 alone, 151 civilians, including 26 children and 10 women, lost their lives while a further 151 were injured.

These grim statistics brought the total number of civilian casualties in the six months since March 26 to 7,217, including 2,355 fatalities and 4,862 wounded. Endit