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Doctors Without Borders Says Abs Hospital in Yemen Hit by Airstrikes

Residents in Abs said coalition jets, which have been striking rebel military targets in the town for days, hit the hospital and caused casualties.

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The attack comes less than 48 hours after MSF said that Saudi airstrikes on a school in the northern province of Sa’ada killed 10 children.

It said one of its staff members was among those killed when an aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, also killing 10 patients.

The coalition airstrike came just two days after similar Saudi strikes hit a residential area near the Saudi border killing at least 19 people, majority children in a school.

The conflict in Yemen pits an internationally-recognized government backed by a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite rebels, who captured the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014.

Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said 28 other children were wounded in Saturday’s attack on the school in the Saada province. The coalition said the bombing had targeted a training facility run by Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement.

“It is confirmed that a Saudi-led airstrike today hit a hospital run by MSF team since July 2015 in Abbs district”, MSF spokeswoman Malak Shahir told Xinhua.

The coalition denied targeting a school, instead saying it bombed a camp at which rebels train underage soldiers.

Earlier this month, the coalition acknowledged that it had committed “unintended bombings” that caused civilian casualties during its almost 18-month air campaign, blaming United Nations agencies for not coordinating with it.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz returned home on Sunday after a month-long holiday in Morocco, and ordered a month’s extra pay for Saudi military and security personnel actively involved in military operations in Yemen, state news agency SPA said.

“Strikes on humanitarian facilities including hospitals are particularly concerning”, she said.

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A spokesman for Ban said he condemned the attack and urged parties “to prevent further violations of global humanitarian law and human rights and do everything in their power to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure”. “Continued military actions only prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people”.

Doctors Without Borders said the victims were aged between eight and 15