More than 50 prisoners of war were killed when Saudi-led coalition aircraft bombed a prison in Dhamar, western Yemen, on Saturday night, according to Houthi rebels.

The succession of seven airstrikes has also wounded hundred, while rescuers continue to search for survivors under the rubble, adding that the toll could be higher because many injured are in serious condition.

According to the Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah chain, the target prison is inside the community college complex in the city center, where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been several times.

According to Iran-backed Houthi rebels, some 170 prisoners captured in government forces have been held there for months. “They were going to be released in a few days as part of a prisoner exchange,” the channel said.

The Saudi-led coalition has said the attacks have targeted “a Houthi position to store air-defense missiles and drones,” tweets Saudi channel Al-Arabiya.

Saudi Arabia has been leading this military coalition since March 2015 against the Houthis who ousted the government of President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi in late 2014, recognized by the international community.

The director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the Middle East, Fabrizio Carboni, said on Twitter he is “worried because of information about the bombing of the prison at #Dhamar”.

“This is a place of detention that the ICRC in Yemen has visited regularly, and we have a team on the way to provide urgent medical help,” he added.

According to another ICRC tweet in Yemen, the team is carrying enough equipment to treat a hundred seriously wounded people, along with 200 body bags to the bombing site.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen, Franz Rauchenstein, is also due to visit, according to the same source.

The strikes came as the coalition has been shaken for several weeks by internal fighting between Yemeni-backed southern separatists, supported by the United Arab Emirates, and pro-government forces, backed by Riyadh.

Since 2014, the conflict has left tens of thousands dead, including many civilians according to NGOs, and plunged this country — the poorest of the Arabian Peninsula — in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world according to the UN.

Source — https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1184865/yemen-la-coalition-menee-par-riyad-dit-avoir-frappe-une-cible-rebelle.html

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