10 civilians killed in Yemen shelling: MSF

Ten civilians were killed in bombardment of a crowded market and homes in western Yemen, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and local sources said yesterday.

A shell struck a market in Taiz, a city just inland from the Red Sea port of Mokha and under siege by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, MSF said on Twitter.

The medical charity did not specify when the attack took place nor who was responsible.

Another seven civilians, including two women and a child, were killed yesterday in Duraihimi to the north by rounds of mortar fire also blamed on Houthi fighters, local sources said.

They said the bodies were pulled out from the rubble of two destroyed homes, as medics at nearby Khokha hospital confirmed the casualties.

Allied with Iran, the northern Houthis are locked in a war against the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is backed by a powerful military alliance led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the government’s fight against the Houthis.

More than 2,200 of them were children.

The conflict has pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine, triggering what the United Nations says is the world’s worst single humanitarian crisis.