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| Report: Saudi coalition used US bomb in Yemen market strike | Report: Saudi coalition used US bomb in Yemen market strike |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen used U.S.-supplied bombs in an airstrike last month on a market that killed at least 119 people, a human rights group said Thursday, further highlighting American involvement in the conflict. | |
| The March 15 bombing targeting the northwestern town of Mastaba marked the second-deadliest airstrike conducted by the Saudi-helmed campaign since it began its war in March 2015. Condemned by the United Nations, the strike also wounded at least 47 people and left charred bodies lying next to flour sacks and twisted metal. | The March 15 bombing targeting the northwestern town of Mastaba marked the second-deadliest airstrike conducted by the Saudi-helmed campaign since it began its war in March 2015. Condemned by the United Nations, the strike also wounded at least 47 people and left charred bodies lying next to flour sacks and twisted metal. |
| Human Rights Watch said its investigators traveled to the town in Yemen’s Hajja province, controlled by the Shiite rebels known as Houthis. There, the group said it found fragments of a 900-kilogram (2,000-pound) MK-84 bomb and a kind of satellite-guidance hardware known as a JDAM, which together are known as a GBU-31 bomb. | |
| The group said the bomb, as well as its guidance equipment, was supplied by the U.S. Their finding matched an earlier report by British television channel ITV, which said its journalists found remnants of what likely was another MK-84 bomb and a different kind of satellite guiding system supplied by the United States. | |
| “One of the deadliest strikes against civilians in Yemen’s yearlong war involved U.S.-supplied weapons, illustrating tragically why countries should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia,” Priyanka Motaparthy, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The U.S. and other coalition allies should send a clear message to Saudi Arabia that they want no part in unlawful killings of civilians.” | “One of the deadliest strikes against civilians in Yemen’s yearlong war involved U.S.-supplied weapons, illustrating tragically why countries should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia,” Priyanka Motaparthy, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The U.S. and other coalition allies should send a clear message to Saudi Arabia that they want no part in unlawful killings of civilians.” |
| U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military action in the Mideast, declined to comment on specifics about the bombing, saying that the “selection and final vetting of targets in the campaign are made by the members of the Saudi-led coalition, not the United States.” | |
| “The U.S. is confident that the information that we relay and noncombat support we provide to Saudi Arabia and other coalition members is sound and provides them the best options for military success consistent with international norms and specifically mitigating the potential for civilian casualties,” U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement to The Associated Press. | |
| The U.S. is believed to offer the Saudi-led coalition satellite images and other intelligence about Yemen to guide its campaign. | |
| U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Bahrain on a trip to the Gulf island nation, also declined to comment specifically on the report while speaking to reporters Thursday. | |
| “I don’t have any solid information, any documentation with respect to what weapon might have been used,” Kerry said. | “I don’t have any solid information, any documentation with respect to what weapon might have been used,” Kerry said. |
| Kerry said he remained involved in efforts to secure a cease-fire in the war. | |
| “Whatever weapons are being used, our preference is that all shooting stops,” Kerry said. However, he also criticized Yemen’s internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, for decisions in the “last few hours” that have set back mediation efforts. The American diplomat did not elaborate. | |
| Hadi on Sunday fired his vice president and the head of his Cabinet, Khaled Bahah, over what he described as shortcomings in the performance of his government in exile. The Saudi-led coalition that supports Hadi has yet to retake Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which the Houthis seized in September 2014. | Hadi on Sunday fired his vice president and the head of his Cabinet, Khaled Bahah, over what he described as shortcomings in the performance of his government in exile. The Saudi-led coalition that supports Hadi has yet to retake Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which the Houthis seized in September 2014. |
| Saudi officials previously said they were investigating the strike, though they previously insisted most of the casualties were Houthi combatants. | Saudi officials previously said they were investigating the strike, though they previously insisted most of the casualties were Houthi combatants. |
| The U.S. has backed the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, where suspected American drones continue to target alleged members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. In November, the U.S. approved a $1.29 billion rearming program for Saudi Arabia, including thousands of similar bombs. | The U.S. has backed the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, where suspected American drones continue to target alleged members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. In November, the U.S. approved a $1.29 billion rearming program for Saudi Arabia, including thousands of similar bombs. |
| The air campaign waged by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been increasingly criticized by human rights activists over civilian deaths. Airstrikes account for 60 percent of the 3,200 civilians killed in the conflict, according to the U.N., which has criticized coalition strikes that have hit markets, clinics and hospitals. | The air campaign waged by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been increasingly criticized by human rights activists over civilian deaths. Airstrikes account for 60 percent of the 3,200 civilians killed in the conflict, according to the U.N., which has criticized coalition strikes that have hit markets, clinics and hospitals. |
| The war in Yemen has killed over 6,000 people in total and left more than 80 percent of Yemenis in dire need of food, water and other aid as a result of the conflict in the Arab world’s poorest country, the U.N. has said. | The war in Yemen has killed over 6,000 people in total and left more than 80 percent of Yemenis in dire need of food, water and other aid as a result of the conflict in the Arab world’s poorest country, the U.N. has said. |
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| Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Manama, Bahrain, contributed to this report. | Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Manama, Bahrain, contributed to this report. |
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| Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell . | Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell . |
| Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |