A Saudi-led coalition said it had launched an “independent” investigation into “reports” of an air strike on a hospital in Yemen which Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said killed 11 people.
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Also, Abs Hospital was the fourth Doctors Without Borders facility in Yemen to be attacked since March 2015, and Ban said 70 health centers had been damaged or destroyed by one side or the other.
“Given the intensity of the current offensive and our loss of confidence in the SLCs (Saudi-led coalition’s) ability to prevent such fatal attacks, MSF considers the hospitals in Saada and Hajjah governorates unsafe for both patients and staff”, the medical group stated.
“We received 10 dead children and 28 wounded, all under the age of 15, who are victims of air strikes on a Koranic school in Haydan”, in Saada province, said MSF spokeswoman Malak Shaher, adding the attack took place on Saturday.
The coalition launched the bombing campaign in March past year after Huthi rebels seized large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
Coalition probes deadly strike on Yemen hospital was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 17, 2016 and was last updated on August 17, 2016.
Saudi government spokesman Mohammed al-Mansour, in comments published by the Saudi Press Agency, chronicled eight cases that rights groups said killed hundreds of civilians.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron tweeted that he was “horrified by the news” and called for a suspension of all arms contracts with Saudi Arabia, a call echoed by Green Party leader Natalie Bennett. The Saudis denied hitting a school, saying the target was a Houthi training camp and accusing the rebels of recruiting children.
For the third straight day, Saudi Arabia’s warplanes are caught up in a high-profile incident of civilian deaths in Yemen, this time attacking a house in the Nehm District near the capital of Sanaa.
MSF said the Arab coalition, which has been conducting air strikes in its battle against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, was responsible for the hit, and asked “all parties.to guarantee that such attacks do not happen again”.
Alessandra Vellucci from the United Nations said: “The Secretary General notes that the parties to the conflict in Yemen have damaged or destroyed over 70 health centres including three other MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres)-supported facilities”.
Similarly, in the attack on the facility in Kunduz, MSF reiterated that its coordinates had been provided to the USA coalition and their Afghan counterparts.
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The rebels formed the so-called Supreme Political Council late last month, in a move that put an end to peace talks in Kuwait.
