12 Yemenis killed in Saudi-led airstrikes on police camp in Sanaa

SANAA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes hit a prison inside a police camp in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing 12 prisoners and injuring 80 others, Houthis-controlled state Saba news agency reported.

"The Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched seven airstrikes on the prison building inside the police camp in downtown Sanaa early Wednesday morning, killing 12 prisoners and injuring 80 others," Saba reported, citing a security official as saying.

Meanwhile, a police official, on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that "some of the detainees in the targeted prison were supporters of slain ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh and they had been arrested by Houthi authorities over the past days following the death of Saleh."

Saudi Arabia-led military coalition has intensified military air campaign against Houthi positions in and around the Houthi rebels-held capital Sanaa since Houthis killed Saleh on Dec. 4.

The coalition has intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to roll back Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels, and backed internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi whom Houthis forced into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The war has killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly children, displaced 3 million, and triggered the world's most humanitarian catastrophe.

Tensions have escalated in Sanaa after Houthis killed their top ally strongman Saleh after he changed alliance and backed the anti-Houthi coalition. Enditem