Medics: 131 killed in airstrike on Yemen wedding party

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

At least 131 people died after an airstrike hit a wedding party in Yemen, medical officials said Tuesday.

Twenty-eight people were initially reported dead when the Saudi-led coalition against Shiite rebels known as Houthis mistakenly hit the gathering Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Tuesday, a medic at a local hospital said the death toll had risen to 131 in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the four-year-long civil war, Reuters and the AP reported. Officials at the hospital said at least 80 women were killed, according to the AP.

On Monday, locals said two missiles struck tents in the Red Sea village of al-Wahga, where a man affiliated with the Houthis was holding his wedding reception, Reuters reported.

The Saudi-led coalition, which began the airstrikes in March, said it was not responsible for the incident, but witnesses said warplanes targeted the party and Yemeni officials acknowledged that there had been a mistake, according to the BBC.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the incident Monday.

"The Secretary-General has consistently stated that there is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen. Its continuation will only bring more human suffering and destruction," his spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement said that any intentional attack against civilians is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and should be independently investigated.

In figures released Tuesday, the UN said at least 2,355 civilians have been killed in the conflict from the end of March to Sept. 24.

Last week, Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi returned to the southern port city of Aden from Saudi Arabia, where he was in exile after fleeing his country in March. The Houthis remain in control of large sections of the country.