MSF hospital in Yemen bombed by airstrike

A hospital run by the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Yemen's northern Saada province was bombed by airstrikes, MSF announced on Tuesday.

The hospital in the Haydan district in Saada province, the stronghold of the Shiite Houthi group that was battling the Saudi-led coalition since March, was hit by several airstrikes started from 22:30 (1930 GMT) on Monday night, the group said in a statement.

"Hospital staff and two patients managed to escape before subsequent airstrikes occurred over a two-hour period. One staff member was slightly injured while escaping. With the hospital destroyed, at least 200,000 people now have no access to lifesaving medical care," it added.

"This attack is another illustration of a complete disregard for civilians in Yemen, where bombings have become a daily routine," said Hassan Boucenine, MSF head of mission in Yemen.

The GPS coordinates of the only hospital in the Haydan district were regularly shared with the Saudi-led coalition, and the roof of the facility was clearly identified with the MSF logo, the statement added.

However, the coalition spokesman denied on Tuesday that it bombed the hospital.

This is the second attack this month on an MSF facility. The U.S. planes bombed a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz on Oct. 3, killing at least 22 people.

The White House said the attack was a mistake and U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the operation.

The war that broke out in March in Yemen have left more than 5,000 people killed, half of them civilians, and 1.5 million people displaced.

Warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday evening bombed Houthi offices in northern Sanaa, which destroyed a building and wounded several people living in the area, witnesses said.

Earlier in the day, the airstrikes also hit weapons stores in Shibam district, some 30 km west of Sanaa.

In the county's southern province of Taiz, the warplanes targeted the Houthis who were battling the pro-government forces on the ground.

The MSF said in a statement sent to Xinhua on Sunday that stocks of essential medical supplies cannot be delivered to two hospitals in a besieged enclave of the city of Taiz, the provincial capital, as the group's trucks have been stopped again at Houthi's checkpoints and denied access to the area.

"The hospitals in this besieged area are seeing large number of patients with war wounds," says Karline Kleijer, MSF's emergency manager for Yemen. "And yet we have been prevented from delivering essential medical supplies to help staff provide lifesaving surgery."

Taiz formerly had 20 hospitals for its population of more than 600,000, but due to the conflict, only six of these continue to function, and often only partially, it said, indicating that they lack health staff, fuel and essential medicines, and are overwhelmed by the high numbers of wounded seeking to access their emergency services on a daily basis. Endit