Saudi jets attack bus carrying children, leave 43 civilians dead

Dozens of civilians have lost their lives and dozens more sustained injuries as Saudi warplanes targeted a bus carrying children in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada.

The bus came under attack at a market in the Sa’ada town of Zahyn on Thursday, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.

Abdul-Ghani Nayeb, head of a health department in Sa’ada, put the number of the deaths at 43, saying over 60 others were also wounded.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement that the bus was carrying children.

Johannes Bruwer, head of delegation for the ICRC in Yemen, also said in a tweet that most of the victims were under the age of 10.

In a defiant statement, the Saudi-led coalition called the carnage a "legitimate action," claiming the fatal air raids were aimed at missile launchers used by Yemeni forces to target the Jizan industrial city in southern Saudi Arabia, a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

The strikes "conformed to international and humanitarian laws," the statement claimed, quoting coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki.

Elsewhere, Saudi fighter jets pounded Zabid District in Yemen’s western province of Hudaydah, killing two civilians and injuring one child.

SS