Off the wire
• Urgent: UN Security Council fails to adopt France drafted resolution on Syria  • Roundup: Business leaders warn bad Brexit deal amid financial turbulence  • Lithuanian Railways sign procurement agreement of Rail Baltica  • Experts push for strong measures to save Ozone Layer  • Georgian ruling party leads in parliamentary election  • Roundup: Uganda strives to revamp railway system to fast track dev't  • Greek air traffic controllers union calls off strike  • AU strongly condemns attack on refugee camp in Niger  • AU to hold extraordinary summit on maritime security in Togo  • 3rd LD: Death toll from Saudi-led coalition air strikes on Yemen's capital rises to 82: official  
You are here: 　 Home

Saudi-led coalition denies striking funeral in Yemen's capital

Xinhua, October 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Saudi-led coalition denied on Saturday carrying any air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa, sources from the coalition confirmed to local news Al Arabiya.

Earlier on Saturday, Yemen's acting health minister Ghazi Ismail said the Saudi-led coalition air strikes on a funeral hall in Sanaa have killed 82 and injured 534.

The mourning ceremony was held for the father of the acting interior minister and rebel Houthi loyalist Jalal al-Ruwaishan.

The Yemeni official strongly condemned what he said "barbaric air attacks against civilians and civilian targets."

However, the sources from the coalition said it has in the past avoided such gatherings and they have never been a subject of targets.

The Saudi-led coalition, which supports the internationally recognized Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Shiite Houthi rebels, have been air striking Yemen from March 2015.

Houthi rebels, supported by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, seized Sanaa and some other cities in September 2014, forcing Hadi and his government into exile.

The airstrikes and fighting on the ground have killed over 10,000 Yemenis, many of them women and children, and injured around 35,000 others, according to a UN report. Endit