Local Editor
Air strikes by an Arab coalition targeting Yemen killed at least 15 people late on Monday, residents said, hours before a ceasefire was due to take effect to pave the way for U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland.
Residents said warplanes launched two raids on the village of Bani al-Haddad, in the northern Hajjah province on the border with Saudi Arabia, killing 13 people and wounding 20 others.
Two more residents died while medics were trying to evacuate them, they said.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not be reached for immediate comment but the alliance says it does not target civilians.
The coalition has said that the ceasefire requested by Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to facilitate the planned peace talks in Switzerland would start at noon local time on Tuesday.
In a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA, the coalition said that Arab forces retained the right to respond to any breach of the ceasefire.
Yemen has been under Saudi airstrikes on a daily basis since Riyadh launched its military campaign against the impoverished nation in late March, in a bid to undermine the Ansarullah movement and restore power to Fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, a staunch Saudi ally.
More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured ever since. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
