Saudi-led airstrikes mistakenly kill 7 pro-gov't Yemeni soldiers

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Warplanes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition launched airstrikes aimed at the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels near Yemen's capital Sanaa on Monday, mistakenly killing seven pro-government soldiers, a military official told Xinhua.

In a case of apparent "friendly fire," the Saudi-led airstrikes missed the Houthi rebels and mistakenly struck the forces allied with the internationally-backed government in Nihm district near the capital Sanaa, the military source said on condition of anonymity.

The Saudi-led airstrikes killed seven soldiers and injured 20 others including high-ranking army officers who were supervising the ongoing fighting against Houthis in the area, the source said.

An army commander told Xinhua by phone saying "one of the Saudi-led warplanes fired a number of missiles and accidentally hit and caused the lives of our ground forces for an unknown reason."

"This is a case of friendly fire. It was an accident but we demand the country's Presidency Office to carry out an investigation," added the army commander, who preferred to remain anonymous.

A source close to Yemen's government said "maybe the coordination was not properly done so the Saudi-led airstrikes targeted our own forces. We don't know yet what exactly happened."

The Saudi-led Arab coalition previously carried out similar airstrikes and mistakenly killed dozens of soldiers from the forces loyal to Yemen's President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the southern provinces.

Yemen's government, allied with the Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for about three years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels over control of the country.

The coalition began a military air campaign in March 2015 to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate exiled Hadi and his government to the power.

The coalition also imposed air and sea blockade to prevent weapons from reaching Houthis, who had invaded the capital Sanaa militarily and seized most of the northern Yemeni provinces.

UN statistics show more than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the coalition intervened in the Yemeni civil war that also displaced around 3 million.

The Arab country is also suffering from the world's largest cholera epidemic since April, with about 5,000 cases reported every day. Enditem