Riyadh insists Yemen raid was 'legitimate'

World
Europe

Thousands of mourners on Monday buried dozens of children killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in northern Yemen, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the three-year-long war.

At least 40 children were killed in Thursday’s strike, which hit a bus as it drove through a market in Dahyan, a town in Saada, the armed Houthi group which controls the province said.

Amid outrage from international human rights groups and UN officials, Riyadh continued to defend the raid as a “legitimate military action” intended to hit Houthi leaders, a day after it authorized a coalition investigation of the strike.

Mourners attend the funeral of people, mainly children, killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in northern Yemen, August 13, 2018. /VCG Photo

Wooden coffins, most with a picture of a child, were taken by cars and carried by pall bearers to a graveyard from a square where prayers were held earlier.

The shrouded bodies were removed from the coffins and placed in a row of unmarked graves that had been dug on Friday.

“My son went to the market to run house errands and then the enemy air strike happened and he was hit by shrapnel and died,” said Fares al-Razhi, mourning his 14-year-old son.

A Yemeni man mourns over a casket during a mass funeral in northern Yemen for children killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition last week, August 13, 2018. /VCG Photo

The coalition said on Friday it would investigate the strike after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack and called for an independent probe.

But on Saturday, state news agency SPA said Riyadh’s mission to the world body delivered a message to Guterres reiterating that the raid was “legitimate” and targeted Houthi leaders “responsible for recruiting and training young children”.

“War can’t be a clean operation unfortunately,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told reporters in Dubai when asked about the Saada attack. “But I will say all parties need to accept their part in what they are doing today.”

Children demonstrate outside the offices of the United Nations in Sanaa, Yemen, to denounce last week's air strike that killed dozens in the northwestern province of Saada, August 13, 2018. /VCG Photo

The Houthis’ health minister Taha Mutawakil said last week that the number of casualties stood at 51 killed including 40 children, and at least 79 people wounded of whom 56 were children. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported the same toll on Friday, citing authorities in Saada.

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Monday quoted a health official as saying another child had died from his wounds, raising the toll to 52.

(Top image: Children demonstrate outside the offices of the United Nations in Sanaa, Yemen, to denounce last week's air strike that killed dozens including children in the northwestern province of Saada, August 13, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters