Attack in rebel-controlled Saada province coincides with fourth anniversary of Saudi intervention in civil war

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

At least seven people, including four children, have died after an airstrike hit the entrance to a hospital in a remote rebel-controlled area of Yemen, Save the Children has said.

Two more people are unaccounted for and eight were injured after a western-backed coalition missile blew up a petrol station next to Kitaf hospital in Saada province on Tuesday morning, the charity said.

The hospital had just opened for the day and many staff and patients were arriving at the building. One healthcare worker and their two children are among the dead, according to the organisation, which funds the facility.

Local media published pictures of the building, which appeared to have been levelled.

No comment was immediately forthcoming from the Saudi-led military coalition operating in Yemen to free the country from Houthi rebels and restore the exiled government.

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The attack coincided with the fourth anniversary of the Saudi coalition intervention in Yemen’s civil war, which has killed at least 60,000 people, left half the country’s 22 million population food insecure and sparked the worst cholera outbreak in modern history.

“We are shocked and appalled by this outrageous attack,” said Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Save the Children’s chief executive.

“Innocent children and health workers have lost their lives in what appears to have been an indiscriminate attack on a hospital in a densely populated civilian area,” she said. “Attacks like these are a breach of international law.”

The coalition and the western governments who supply it with arms have been repeatedly criticised by rights groups and conflict monitors for bombing campaigns which have hit schools, health facilities, funeral gatherings and wedding parties, killing thousands of civilians.

Yemen’s government and Saudi Arabia accuse the Houthis of using civilians as human shields. The Houthis have launched long-range missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia and targeted Saudi ships in the Red Sea.

