The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen launched an investigation Tuesday following worldwide condemnation of an air strike that Doctors Without Borders said killed 11 people at a hospital it supports. The blast killed 14 people.
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Yemen fell into a civil war in late 2014 when the Ansar Allah (Houthis) and allied forces of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.
The explosion immediately killed nine people, including a Yemeni staff member, the group said in a statement.
“Ongoing fighting and airstrikes present grave risks”.
MSF calls on all parties, and particularly the Saudi-led coalition responsible for the attack, to guarantee that such attacks do not happen again.
The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) has launched investigations into the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) claim that coalition airstrikes have hit a school and a hospital in Yemen causing casualties.
Shaher told AFP that MSF had received the children at a field hospital near the school before they were transferred to a public hospital.
Since the conflict started 17 months ago, MSF – one of the few global organizations operating in Yemen – has had a presence in 11 hospitals and health care centers and has provided support to 18 hospitals around the country. “Either intentional or as a result of negligence, this is unacceptable”.
U.S. State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau expressed concern after reports of Monday’s airstrike, saying the State Department was in contact with Saudi authorities and was still gathering information.
The JIAT said it was also investigating Saturday’s strikes on the school in Saada. It promised to publicly announce findings of the probe.
MSF was also in the news last October as United States aircraft hit a facility run by the agency in the war torn city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing 30 patients and staff. The attacks often target humanitarian operations and civilians, including many children, and are clearly prohibited under International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
“This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months”, the statement said.
Mr McPhun said the Saudi-led coalition would have been aware “without doubt” of what the MSF facility was.
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Abs hospital in northwest Yemen was hit by an airstrike this afternoon at 15.45 local time, killing at least 11 people and injuring at least 19.
