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'More than 100 believed killed in Yemen air strike'

Saudi-led military coalition said it launched air strikes against a Huthi military target

Afp September 01, 2019

A view of destroyed buildings in the aftermath of reported air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led military coalition against a Huthi military target in Dhamar, south of the capital Sanaa. PHOTO: AFP

KURDUZ: More than 100 people are believed to have been killed when the Saudi-led coalition fighting Huthi rebels launched an air strike on a detention centre in Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Sunday.

"We estimate over 100 people were killed," Franz Rauchenstein, head of delegation for the ICRC in Yemen, said after he travelled to the city of Dhamar where the air strikes hit.

“We are taking these reports extremely seriously. I am on my way to Dahmar #Yemen to assess the situation. We have visited detainees in this location before, as we do in other places as part of our work.” Franz Rauchenstein, #ICRC head of delegation in Yemen.
— ICRC Yemen (@ICRC_ye) September 1, 2019

He said that at least 40 survivors were being treated for their injuries in hospitals in the city, which lies south of the capital Sanaa.

Saudi-led coalition says strikes Houthi arms site in Yemen, group says prison hit

The Saudi-led military coalition said earlier that it launched air strikes against a Huthi military target that "stores drones and missiles".

However, the Huthi television channel al Masirah said that "dozens were killed and injured" in seven air strikes that hit a building the rebels used as a prison.

The ICRC has sent medical teams and hundreds of body bags to Dhamar, saying that it had visited detainees at the location before.
"As we speak, the teams are working relentlessly to find survivors under the rubble" and are "currently collecting bodies," Rauchenstein said, adding that the chances of finding anyone else alive in the heavy debris "are very low".

An ICRC team carrying both urgent medical supplies that can treat up to 100 critically wounded persons and 200 body bags to be donated is on its way to Dhamar province #Yemen following air strikes which are reported to have killed or wounded dozens of detainees.
— ICRC Yemen (@ICRC_ye) September 1, 2019