This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/world/middleeast/dozens-killed-in-airstrikes-on-market-in-yemen.html
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Dozens Killed in Airstrikes on Market in Yemen | Dozens Killed in Airstrikes on Market in Yemen |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| SANA, Yemen — Dozens of people were killed when warplanes from a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia bombed a restaurant and crowded market in northern Yemen shortly before noon on Tuesday, medical workers said. | SANA, Yemen — Dozens of people were killed when warplanes from a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia bombed a restaurant and crowded market in northern Yemen shortly before noon on Tuesday, medical workers said. |
| Rescue workers could not give an exact count of the victims because few of the bodies were left intact, said Ali Ajlan, an administrator at one of the hospitals in the area. | |
| An initial count turned up as many as 90 bodies, he said, making it among the deadliest airstrikes in Yemen’s yearlong civil war. | An initial count turned up as many as 90 bodies, he said, making it among the deadliest airstrikes in Yemen’s yearlong civil war. |
| “One leg here and a head there,” said Mr. Ajlan, the assistant director of the Jamhouri hospital in Hajja Province, where the airstrikes occurred. “They are still collecting.” | |
| The Saudi-led coalition has consistently denied that it targets civilians as it fights the Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group that drove Yemen’s Saudi-backed government from power last year. But in investigations of several bombings, journalists and human rights workers have turned up little evidence of any Houthi-affiliated military personnel or facilities near the site of the attacks. | The Saudi-led coalition has consistently denied that it targets civilians as it fights the Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group that drove Yemen’s Saudi-backed government from power last year. But in investigations of several bombings, journalists and human rights workers have turned up little evidence of any Houthi-affiliated military personnel or facilities near the site of the attacks. |
| United Nations officials have said that most of the nearly 3,000 civilians killed in the conflict have died in airstrikes. There have been varying reasons given for the high toll, including that the coalition pilots, fearful of ground fire, are flying too high to carry out accurate strikes. | United Nations officials have said that most of the nearly 3,000 civilians killed in the conflict have died in airstrikes. There have been varying reasons given for the high toll, including that the coalition pilots, fearful of ground fire, are flying too high to carry out accurate strikes. |
| In the worst-hit provinces of northern Yemen, where cities and towns are cratered by frequent bombing, residents have accused the Saudi coalition of following a policy of collective punishment in areas under the Houthis’ control. | In the worst-hit provinces of northern Yemen, where cities and towns are cratered by frequent bombing, residents have accused the Saudi coalition of following a policy of collective punishment in areas under the Houthis’ control. |
| Residents near the site of Tuesday’s strike said that there were no military targets near the market, which sold a mild narcotic called khat. Children were visible in footage broadcast on a Houthi news channel that was said to show the aftermath of bombing, their bodies contorted in the rubble and the sand. Two children who were taken to another hospital in the area died soon after they arrived, the hospital’s director, Ibrahim Arram, said. | Residents near the site of Tuesday’s strike said that there were no military targets near the market, which sold a mild narcotic called khat. Children were visible in footage broadcast on a Houthi news channel that was said to show the aftermath of bombing, their bodies contorted in the rubble and the sand. Two children who were taken to another hospital in the area died soon after they arrived, the hospital’s director, Ibrahim Arram, said. |
| More than 30 other people who were taken to the hospital were critically injured, Mr. Arram said. | More than 30 other people who were taken to the hospital were critically injured, Mr. Arram said. |
| The bombing also cast doubt on a sign of progress in ending the war. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday that the Houthis and Saudi Arabia had been able to maintain a “pause” in fighting along the shared border between the countries that started last week, according to Reuters. | The bombing also cast doubt on a sign of progress in ending the war. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday that the Houthis and Saudi Arabia had been able to maintain a “pause” in fighting along the shared border between the countries that started last week, according to Reuters. |
| But in a statement late Tuesday, the Houthis condemned the airstrike as a “horrible crime” and accused the Saudis, along with their American allies, of failing to respect “covenants and treaties.” | But in a statement late Tuesday, the Houthis condemned the airstrike as a “horrible crime” and accused the Saudis, along with their American allies, of failing to respect “covenants and treaties.” |