20 civilians reported dead in air strike

ADEN: An air raid in Yemen has killed at least 20 people mostly from the same family, the UN and witnesses said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of suspected strikes on civilians by the coalition.

The attack on Tuesday afternoon hit a group of civilians in the Mawza district of the southwestern province of Taez, a statement by the UN refugee agency said.

Residents said the attack was carried out by a warplane from the coalition fighting rebels in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. At least seven women and four children were among those killed, they said.

The UNHCR said it was “deeply shocked and saddened at reports of the deaths and injuries of a number of internally displaced persons in an aerial attack” on the area.

The statement said the civilians had fled fighting in the nearby Mokha district, on the Red Sea coast.

Coalition-backed forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi recaptured the port of Mokha in February as part of a major ongoing offensive to drive rebels from Yemen’s lengthy coastline.

The UNHCR statement said more than half a million civilians, 27 per cent of Yemen’s internally displaced people (IDPs), originate from the governorate of Taez.

“This latest incident once again demonstrates the extreme dangers facing civilians in Yemen, particularly those attempting to flee violence, as they disproportionately bear the brunt of conflict,” the statement said.

The coalition launched a military operation against the rebels in March 2015 as insurgents closed in on Hadi in his southern refuge in Aden forcing him to flee to Riyadh.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed in Yemen’s conflict, most of them civilians, since the intervention.

Meanwhile the coalition has barred a United Nations aid flight from heading to the country’s rebelheld capital with journalists on board, the UN and Yemen’s government said on Wednesday.

“The coalition suspended the UN flight leaving Djibouti for Sanaa on Tuesday as there were three BBC journalists on board,” Saleh Humeidi, a top official withYemen’s information ministry, said.