’30 Civilians’ Killed after Coalition Airstrikes Hit Market in Yemen
Local Editor
Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed 30 civilians in an attack on a market in northern Yemen on Sunday, the SABA news agency said, as UN mediators pushed for a humanitarian pause in fighting that has killed nearly 3,000 since March.
The Saudi-led air strike targeted the Aahem market in Hajjah province, where preliminary figures showed that 30 civilians were killed and an unspecified number of people were wounded.
"The Saudi enemy targeted citizens while they were doing their shopping at Aahem market," the agency quoted a security source in Hajjah as saying.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for a comment.
The aggression occurred amid efforts by the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, to arrange a pause in fighting until the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on July 17, to allow for deliveries of humanitarian aid.
Cheikh Ahmed was due to travel to Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Sunday for talks with the Ansarullah movement, after discussions in Muscat, Oman.
Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said in a post on his Facebook page that he had met Cheikh Ahmed on Friday in Muscat to discuss the matter.
The United Nations [UN] recently last week designated the war in Yemen as a Level 3 humanitarian crisis, its most severe category.
More than 2,600 people have been killed and at least 11,000 injured by Saudi attacks since the US-led Saudi military aggression began against Yemen on March 26, according to United Nations [UN] records. The Saudi airstrikes since March 26 have not been authorized by the UN.
