Detention centre raids kill scores in Yemen

SAUDI-LED coalition airstrikes on rebel-held security buildings in Yemen’s west, including a detention centre, killed 60 people, an official said yesterday, updating the toll from 38 dead.

“Sixty people in total were killed and dozens were wounded,” said a health official from the coastal province of Hodeidah where the two raids took place on Saturday.

Most of the victims were antirebel detainees who were being held in two cells at the detention centre, said the source who requested anonymity. More than 100 inmates were being held in both cells, he added.

A military source close to the insurgents said Saturday there were more than 40 inmates at the facility and most of them were held because of their opposition to the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who have held Hodeidah since late 2014.

It remains unclear why the coalition would hit a detention centre holding anti-rebel inmates.

Elsewhere on Saturday, strikes on residential buildings killed 17 people and wounded seven in the battleground town of Salo, southeast of Yemen’s third city Taez, said rebel-controlled media. The sabanews.net website said four raids had completely destroyed three residential buildings.

A local official loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government said its strikes had hit three adjacent homes by mistake. “All those in the houses were killed,” he said, adding a child and seven women were among the dead. But the coalition has so far not commented on both attacks.