Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Hani Mohammed/PA

More than 100 believed killed in airstrike on Yemen detention centre

The International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 40 survivors were being treated for their injuries in hospitals.

MORE THAN 100 people are believed to have been killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led military coalition on a detention centre in Yemen.

The coalition said it targeted a facility run by the Huthi rebels that “stores drones and missiles”, but the rebels said the attack had levelled a building they used as a prison.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) rushed to the scene in the city of Dhamar with medical teams and hundreds of body bags.

“The location that was hit has been visited by ICRC before,” Rauchenstein told AFP from Dhamar. “It’s a college building that has been empty and has been used as a detention facility for a while.”

“What is most disturbing is that [the attack was] on a prison. To hit such a building is shocking and saddening – prisoners are protected by international law.”

Rauchenstein said that over 100 people were estimated to be dead, and that at least 40 survivors were being treated for their injuries in hospitals in the city, south of the capital Sanaa.

ICRC teams collecting bodies were “working relentlessly to find survivors under the rubble”, he said, but cautioned that the chances of finding any were very slim.

Humanitarian crisis

Footage obtained by AFP showed heavy damage to the building and several bodies lying in the rubble, as bulldozers worked to clear away huge piles of debris.

The coalition intervened in 2015 to support the government after the Iran-aligned Huthis swept out of their northern stronghold to seize Sanaa and much of Yemen – the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Fighting since then has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and sparked what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Both sides stand accused of actions that could amount to war crimes.

The coalition has been blacklisted by the UN for the killing of children, while Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Huthis of using civilians as human shields in densely populated areas.

The Saudi-led coalition said in a statement Sunday carried by the state-run Al-Ekhbariya news channel that it targeted a rebel “military position in Dhamar that stores drones and missiles”.

“We took all precautionary measures to protect civilians,” it added.

However, the Huthi television channel Al-Masirah said that dozens were killed and injured in seven air strikes that hit the building.

- © AFP 2019

Author
View 7 comments
Close
7 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rui Firmino
    Favourite Rui Firmino
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:10 PM

    How can it have salmonella with no salmon in it?

    104
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Angela
    Favourite Angela
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:26 PM

    Salmonella is a type of bacteria. Salmon is a type of fish.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rui Firmino
    Favourite Rui Firmino
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:30 PM

    @Angela: So, there’s fish in chocolate?

    123
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Byrne
    Favourite Darren Byrne
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:47 PM

    @Angela:

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dec dunne
    Favourite dec dunne
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 5:34 PM

    @Rui Firmino: Hehehe

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute J
    Favourite J
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 5:43 PM

    @Darren Byrne: it’s not that type of salmon, it’s the salmon eile (I’ll get my coat)

    72
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
    Favourite sean o'dhubhghaill
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 5:52 PM

    @J: Don’t! Stay! Sure you’re great craic altogether!

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neal Ireland Hello.
    Favourite Neal Ireland Hello.
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 3:45 PM

    Hungry now.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Radburn
    Favourite Paul Radburn
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:34 PM

    Is there life on Mars? (bars) sorry just bored!

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Davin Ryan
    Favourite Davin Ryan
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:43 PM

    Salmonella…. a different kettle of fish…

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gagsy 99
    Favourite Gagsy 99
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:18 PM

    I’ll take my chances if you want to send me yours

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rui Firmino
    Favourite Rui Firmino
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:29 PM

    @Gagsy 99: I too like to live dangerously!

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Quentin Moriarty
    Favourite Quentin Moriarty
    Report
    Jun 10th 2017, 9:54 PM

    @Rui Firmino: living in the jack for a week more like it

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute winston smith
    Favourite winston smith
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 4:50 PM

    First the New Zeland chocolate factory closure and now this! Noooooooh, my weekend is falling apart.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dec dunne
    Favourite dec dunne
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 5:34 PM

    @winston smith: Where’s willy wonka when u need him!!

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute EoinM
    Favourite EoinM
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 8:52 PM

    Dead.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 7:58 PM

    The stuff is unhealthy enough without salmonella.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Josephine Carroll
    Favourite Josephine Carroll
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 7:14 PM

    Some packs of minstrels also affected according to RTE news.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cranium
    Favourite Cranium
    Report
    Jun 9th 2017, 7:17 PM

    I thought those shows were outlawed years ago.

    13
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds