Air strike inquiry welcomed

DUBAI/GENEVA: Yemen’s Houthi group welcomed a call yesterday by the United Nations for an independent investigation into Saudiled coalition air strikes that killed dozens of people a day earlier, including children travelling on a bus.

‘‘We welcome the call of the secretarygeneral [of the UN] and we are ready to cooperate,’’ the head of the Houthis’ supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali alHouthi, said in a tweet.

A Yemeni health official and the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday an air strike had hit the bus carrying children as it drove through a market in northern Saada province.

UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres on Thursday condemned the air strike and called for an ‘‘independent and prompt investigation’’, his spokesman said.

Henrietta Fore, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), said in a statement yesterday the ‘‘horrific’’ bus attack ‘‘marks a low point in [Yemen’s] brutal war’’.

The Westernbacked alliance fighting the Iranianaligned Houthis said the air strikes had targeted missile launchers used to attack the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday, killing a Yemeni civilian there.

It accused the Houthis of using children as human shields and said the strikes were carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law. — Reuters