Eight dead in Saudi-led strikes on Yemen

Yemenis walk past graffiti showing a US drone after al-Qaeda in Yemen confirmed the death of its leader in US drone strike, in Sanaa. Photo: YAHYA ARHAB

Yemenis walk past graffiti showing a US drone after al-Qaeda in Yemen confirmed the death of its leader in US drone strike, in Sanaa. Photo: YAHYA ARHAB

Published Jul 2, 2015

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Sanaa - Saudi-led air strikes killed eight people on Thursday in Yemen's capital Sanaa, residents and a news agency reported, the first such attacks after a lull of several days.

Warplanes of a Saudi-led coalition also launched some 35 raids on the northern Saada province, the main base of Iranian-backed Houthis who came to dominate Yemen last year after they captured Sanaa.

Loud explosions were heard throughout the capital as the aerial bombardment was concentrated on military bases in its south and west, residents and witnesses said.

The attacks also targeted a house owned by the leader of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress party, which is allied to the Houthis, they said.

Eight people were killed and 10 wounded in the raids, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition has been bombarding Houthis and allied army units since March 26 in a campaign to restore Saleh's successor as president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to power. Hadi has since fled to Saudi Arabia, where he remains.

The Saba agency said two people were killed and 15 wounded in the latest air strikes on Saada. The Saudi-led coalition also struck Houthi forces and Saleh loyalists in Marib province, east of Sanaa, witnesses said.

More than 2 800 people have been killed since March 26. The United Nations says more than 21 million people, or 80 percent of the population, are now estimated to be in need of some form of humanitarian aid, or protection, or both.

Reuters

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