Six of those killed were children

An air raid struck a building in Yemen’s capital on Friday, killing 12 people, six of them children, when an adjacent apartment block collapsed, residents said.

Residents and rescuers dug frantically through debris after the early morning attack on the Faj Attan area of Sana’a, retrieving the bloodied, dust-covered bodies of several children, some of whom appeared to be less than 10 years old. Chunks of masonry lay strewn beside gaping fissures in walls that revealed the apartments’ shattered interiors. People at the scene told Reuters the warplanes were from a Saudi-led Arab coalition, which has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement for over two years.

‘Hideous massacre’

“The air force of the countries of the American-Saudi aggression carried out a hideous massacre against the citizens in Faj Attan,” an official Houthi website said.

Residents said the strike did not target the apartment house where people were killed, but instead hit a vacant building next to it. The apartment house contained eight flats and appeared to have wooden ceilings, a witness said.