A US bombing kills at least 68 African migrants in a Yemeni prison and injures dozens.
The affected facilities were managed by the UN and the Red Cross
BarcelonaA US bombing raid in Yemen killed 68 African migrants held at a detention center run by the UN International Organization for Migration and the Red Cross in the western city of Sa'ada early this morning and injured at least 47, Yemeni television reported. According to the Houthi Interior Ministry, there were 115 migrants in pretrial detention at the center, dozens of whom died trapped in the burning building. Images broadcast by Al Masirah television show dozens of bodies among the ruins of the detention center for African migrants who enter Yemeni territory illegally via the Djibouti-Yemen route, which connects Africa with the Persian Gulf countries. The same site was previously attacked by Saudi Arabian air forces in 2022 during its intervention in the civil war in the Arab world's poorest country.
"Attacking innocent civilians and migrants is a crime that adds to the history of US crimes against the Yemeni people and humanity as a whole," the Houthi Interior Ministry said in a statement. They also denounced the attack on a "safe haven" under the supervision of international organizations as "a full-fledged war crime." The US military's Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, declined to provide details of the latest attacks, but acknowledged that it has hit 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March. Yemeni authorities have counted more than 220 deaths in this campaign.
Yesterday, Sunday, other US bombings killed at least eight more people, including women and children, in homes in the northern suburb of Bani al-Harith, Sana'a. On the orders of President Donald Trump, the United States launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Yemen on March 15 with the stated goal of destroying the Houthis' military capabilities, but the insurgents report that these attacks have targeted civilian sites. Washington hopes the insurgents will stop disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea with their operations against ships transiting to Israeli ports in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have launched around 100 direct attacks against Israel and dozens more against commercial ships in the Red and Arabian Seas since the start of the war in Gaza, prompting retaliatory campaigns from both Israel and an international coalition led by the United States and the United States.