News / Yemen

Saudi bombing of Yemen market kills at least 24

Sunday, 18 June 2017 5:17 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 18 June 2017 8:34 AM ]

People gather on the rubble of shops destroyed in a Saudi airstrike at a market in Sana'a, Yemen, July 20, 2015.

Saudi warplanes have bombed a bustling marketplace in Yemen’s extreme northwest, killing at least 24 people, the al-Masirah television reports.

The aircraft hit the al-Moshnaq market in Sa’ada Province’s Shada’a District Saturday night as people gathered to buy staples for Eid al-Fitr, a festivity which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The network said the casualty figure could rise because the aircraft kept bombing after relief teams arrived at the scene.

The report said some of the fatalities have already been identified as relief workers, who died trying to reach the marketplace amid continued bombing.

Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in 2015 to restore former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power. Its airstrikes often target civilian population centers and the impoverished country's infrastructure.

The civilian fatalities caused by the invasion has been put at more than 12,000 so far.

The Saudi bombing of a funeral hall in the capital Sana’a back in February grabbed rare international attention, in which more than 140 people were killed while attending a wake.