Houthi TV network, al-Masirah, says 43 were killed inside the security headquarters that housed the prisons

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Dozens of prisoners and security personnel were feared dead after Saudi-led airstrikes hit two prisons inside a security headquarters in a western port city, security and medical officials have said.

What is happening in Yemen and how Saudi Arabia's airstrikes are affecting civilians - explainer Read more

The airstrikes bombed the al-Zaydiya security headquarters in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida. The building contained two prisons and many prisoners along with security forces have been killed in the strikes, the officials said.

The city is under control of Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels who have seized the capital and much of the northern region in 2014. The Houthis’ TV network al-Masirah said that 43 people were killed in the airstrikes.

The airstrikes took place hours after warplanes dropped bombs on the houses of civilians in the western city of Taiz, killing at least 18 people, including children, earlier on Saturday.

Yemen’s president-in-exile has turned down a UN peace deal aimed at ending the country’s devastating conflict, saying it “rewards” Yemen’s rebels.

The proposed peace deal would give the Houthi rebels who seized the capital, Sana’a, in 2014 – and who eventually forced President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi out of Yemen – a share in the future government. It also reduces some of the president’s powers in exchange for a rebel withdrawal from major cities.

Hadi made his remarks during a visit by the UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Saturday.



