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| More than 30 refugees killed in helicopter attack on boat in Yemen | More than 30 refugees killed in helicopter attack on boat in Yemen |
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| More than 30 Somali refugees have been killed in an attack on a boat off the coast of Yemen. | More than 30 Somali refugees have been killed in an attack on a boat off the coast of Yemen. |
| Coastguard authorities in the Houthi rebel stronghold of Hodeidah said a helicopter gunship attacked the vessel they were travelling on in the Red Sea. | Coastguard authorities in the Houthi rebel stronghold of Hodeidah said a helicopter gunship attacked the vessel they were travelling on in the Red Sea. |
| Photos that were too graphic to publish showed the bodies of women and men in civilian clothes lying on top of one another in the partially destroyed boat, their belongings splattered with blood. Children were reported to be among the dead. | |
| Mohamed al-Alay told Reuters the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were on their way from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab el-Mandeb strait. | |
| The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it was “deeply distressed” by the casualties and called for all parties in the Yemeni civil war to protect civilians in accordance with international law. | |
| “UNHCR is appalled by this tragic incident, the latest in which civilians continue to disproportionately bear the brunt of conflict in Yemen,” a spokesperson said. | |
| “UNHCR has been following up to provide urgent assistance and support to the survivors and to the families of those deceased.” | |
| The agency warned that conditions in Yemen were continuing to deteriorate, forcing asylum seekers to leave the country and move north. | |
| A sailor who had been operating the boat, Ibrahim Ali Zeyad, said 80 refugees had been rescued after the incident. | A sailor who had been operating the boat, Ibrahim Ali Zeyad, said 80 refugees had been rescued after the incident. |
| The boat was passing through waters between Yemen and Eritrea and Djibouti, which sits on Somalia's northern border. | |
| It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, although Saudi forces are known to deploy Apache helicopters as part of their air campaign in support of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. | It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, although Saudi forces are known to deploy Apache helicopters as part of their air campaign in support of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. |
| The coastal province of Hodeidah has come under heavy bombardment in recent years as a stronghold of Houthi rebels, who are fighting the internationally-recognised government alongside forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. | |
| Yemen's civil war, which is about to enter its third year of bloodshed, has allowed terrorist groups including Isis and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to seize territory and carry out attacks. | |
| Despite violence that has left more than 10,000 people dead and 17 million facing starvation, African migrants seeking work in Saudi Arabia have continued using Yemen as a transit point. | |
| Additional reporting by agencies |