1st LD: Coalition airstrikes in Yemen's capital kill, injure dozens: witnesses

Saudi-led coalition warplanes hit near a mourning ceremony in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday, killing and injuring dozens, eyewitnesses told Xinhua.

The mourning ceremony was being held for the father of rebel Houthi loyalist Jalal al-Ruwaishan, the acting interior minister, at a big hall in the southern part of Sanaa.

Two airstrikes bombed the vicinity of the big hall, and people fled outside.

Eyewitnesses also told Xinhua that a third airstrike hit the hall directly afterwards, where hundreds of people still crowded to offer condolences to the pro-Houthi acting interior minister al-Ruwaishan.

"After the first two air attacks, some people fled to the vicinity while others remain inside," an eyewitness told Xinhua.

"I saw tens of people died and dozens others badly injured. Blood is everywhere," he said, requested not to be named.

Streets leading to the hall were all closed by pro-Houthi security forces. Journalists and cameramen were prevented from getting into the scene.

Some witnesses said senior Houthi officials and their ally former President Ali Abdullah Saleh were in the hall.

Houthis, backed by Saleh's loyal forces, stormed the capital Sanaa in September 2014, fighting against what they said "Hadi's government corruption."

They seized Sanaa and much parts of the country's north, forcing Hadi and his government to flee into exile.

The Saudi-led coalition launched a military air campaign against Houthis and Saleh's forces on March 26, 2015 to restore Hadi to power and recapture the capital.

The coalition's airstrikes and ground battles have since killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children and women, injuring around 35,000 others and displacing three million others, according to UN reports. Endit