2nd LD: Death toll from Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen rises to 65

Death toll from Tuesday afternoon airstrikes carried out by Saudi-led coalition aircrafts on a crowded popular market north of Yemen's capital Sanaa increased to at least 65 civilians, medics and officials told Xinhua.

"So far, the death toll mounted to 65 civilians and 55 others injured when the Saudi-led fighter jets launched two airstrikes on Al-Khamees market in Mastaba district in Hajja province," a medical official told Xinhua, updating a death toll which he previously put at 30.

The airstrikes took place during the rush hour afternoon while people were crowding in the public market, said the official, adding that hospitals in Mastaba and Abs districts have not enough medicines to treat those huge numbers of injured.

Doctors without Borders reported that they have received about 40 injured from the airstrikes in Mastaba district and they were brought to the organization-hosted Rural Hospital in Abs district. The international organization said most of those 40 injured were women and children.

Official Saba news agency, which is under control of the Houthi group, also raised the death toll to 65 civilians from the two airstrikes in Mastaba district and said dozens of others were hurt.

Hajja, about 123 km northwest of the rebel-held Sanaa, is another stronghold of the rebel Shiite Houthi rebels, who also control northern provinces, while southern provinces have been retaken over the past few months by the government forces loyal to the internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The Saudi-led coalition started daily air bombing on the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces since March 2015, vowing to drive out the rebels and retrieve Sanaa, the capital.

Yemen has been mired in an all-out civil war since September 2014, when the Shiite Houthi group backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh invaded the capital Sanaa and drove President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The war has killed nearly 6,000 people, mostly civilians.

Meanwhile, ground battles between the Houthi fighters and government troops renewed in southwest province of Taiz and in northeast province of al-Jouf.

Local sources said at least 23 Houthis and 14 government troops were killed over the past 24 hours in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Taiz.

The sources also said that 10 Houthis and seven government troops were also killed over the past hours in the battle fronts in the northeast al-Jouf province. Endit