The death toll rose to 131 on Tuesday after “more bodies were taken overnight to hospital and numerous wounded succumbed to their injuries”, a health official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
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Human rights groups have accused both the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels of indiscriminately bombing or shelling civilians areas and urged an global inquiry into violations of worldwide law.
Key dates in Yemen since a Saudi-led coalition intervened after Iran-backed Huthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa a year ago and later moved in on the rest of the country. Members of the government as well as Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have returned to the city to set up a rival power base to the Houthis’ in the capital Sana’a after spending months in exile.
The Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition apparently struck the wedding party by mistake on Monday in al-Wahga, a village near the town of Mokha and the strategic Strait of Bab al-Mandab, Yemeni security officials said.
Condemning Hadi’s government as a tool of the Gulf monarchies and the imperialist West, the Houthis say their spread through the country is a revolution.
He said at least 85 women and 12 children were among the dead and scores of others were injured.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri tells The Associated Press Wednesday that “we did not conduct any operations in that area two days ago”, referring to Monday’s incident, in which more than 130 people were killed in the deadliest single event of Yemen’s civil war.
He also said the coalition’s naval blockade of Yemen’s main seaports was exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The country we’re supposed to trust with not cheating on a dubious nuclear deal was just caught red-handed trying to supply its proxies in Yemen with sophisticated weapons.
This is not the first time Yemeni civilians celebrating a wedding have been killed with United States weapons. Saudi authorities dismissed this report as “totally false” too, while United Nations rights spokesman Colville said the details were being checked.
Al Wahijah is located in Taez province, which the Houthis captured in March as they began advancing on the southern port city of Aden, where Hadi was based before he was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh says that it has suspended the military campaign, but resumes air strikes a day later.
The coalition has denied responsibility for several earlier attacks with large civilian casualties.
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A statement late Monday from Ban’s spokesman highlighted the illegality of attacks against civilians and said Ban again called for all parties in Yemen to halt the fighting.
