Rights group ‘appalled’ by Saudi-led airstrike that killed children

A prominent children’s rights organization says it has been “shocked and appalled” by a recent Saudi-led airstrike against Yemen that killed four children, calling for an investigation into the raid.

The UK-based Save the Children said on Tuesday that the airstrike hit the vicinity of a hospital supported by the organization near Sa’ada Province’s capital of the same name. Three more people, including health workers and security guards, were also killed during the attack, while two more adults are still unaccounted for, it added.

Save the Children called for “an urgent investigation into the latest atrocity.”

“We are shocked and appalled by this outrageous attack,” its chief executive Helle Thorning-Schmidt said.

“This hospital is just one of the many Save the Children supports across Yemen, delivering life-saving aid to children living in what is the worst place on earth to be a child,” she said. “These children have the right to be safe in their hospitals, schools, and homes… Children must be protected.”

A recent report by the organization said the Saudi-led war on Yemen has killed at least 2,500 Yemeni children — 30 children every month — since March 2015, when the aggression started.

Last August, Saudi warplanes used US-supplied bombs to target a school bus in Sa’ada, killing 40 children on board.

SS