Airstrikes in Yemen kill 68 civilians in one day

CAIRO — Airstrikes on a market and a farm in Yemen killed at least 68 civilians in a single day, including eight children, the U.N. said Thursday.

The two attacks occurred Tuesday, making it one of the bloodiest days for civilians so far in Yemen’s civil war. At least 109 civilians have been killed nationwide over the past two weeks, in a conflict that has intensified since the death of the country’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, this month.

Local Yemeni officials blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the airstrikes.

More than three years of fighting have turned Yemen, which was already the poorest Arab country, into the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

On one side are the Houthis, Shiite rebels aligned with Iran who took over the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. Those on the other side include an Arab coalition led by the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has waged a devastating air campaign since March 2015 to restore the government.

One of the airstrikes Tuesday hit a busy marketplace in Attazziah, a district in the southwestern province of Taiz. That attack, the U.N. said, killed 54 civilians, including the eight children, and wounded 32 more.

The other attack struck a farm in Hodeida, a province farther west, and killed 14 members of one family. The Saudis believe Iran is smuggling weapons to the rebels through Hodeida — a claim that remains largely unsubstantiated.

“These incidents prove the complete disregard for human life that all parties, including the Saudi-led coalition, continue to show in this absurd war,” Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. aid coordinator in Yemen, said.