Air blitz: Raid kills 60 at Yemen security site, prison

Alliance says complex was used as command centre by Houthi rebels

SANAA/HODEIDAH: An air raid by an Arab coalition killed 60 people in Yemen, including inmates of a prison near the city of Hodeidah, medical sources said.

The prison held 84 inmates when it was struck three times late on Saturday, Hashem al Azizi, deputy governor of the province of Hodeidah, told Reuters.

The Saudi-led alliance that conducted the raid said it struck a "central security building" used as a military command centre by the Houthi rebels it is fighting.

Local officials said the prison lies within a security complex but that only prison guards were present during the air strike.

"This building is used by Houthi militia and the forces of the deposed president as a command and control centre for their military operations," a statement by the coalition said, referring to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Houthi ally.

"The coalition forces' leadership stresses that targeting protocols and procedures were followed fully," the statement said.



A Reuters witness at the security complex said the building was destroyed and medics pulled about 17 bodies away, many of them missing limbs. Others remained trapped under the rubble.

One of the strikes directly targeted the building, the witness said, bringing it down over the heads of the prisoners.

Two others hit the gate of the complex and nearby administration buildings.

Hadi rejects peace plan

Rights groups have said the raids may amount to war crimes, but an investigative body set up by the coalition largely defended its methods in an August report, which concluded that Houthi rebels regularly deploy to civilian sites.

The Houthis deny this, and a top official in the movement criticised the United Nations and the United States, the Saudis' key ally and arms supplier, for not doing enough to hold the kingdom accountable for its air strikes.

"We condemn the position of the international community and the UN for providing cover for the crimes of Saudi Arabia against Yemenis, and they are subject to the wishes of America," Saleh al Samad said in a statement late on Saturday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.