Escalating conflict in Yemen leaves some 4000 people killed since March

The death toll in the war- torn Yemen is almost 4,000 since the conflict had escalated in mid- March, UN officials told reporters Tuesday.

From March 19 and until July 19, there were 3,984 deaths and 19, 347 injuries, making a total of 23,331 deaths and injuries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, adding that these figures were based on what was reported from local health facilities.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA) bases its figures on what WHO compiles on the basis of information from health facilities, the officials said.

According to Ravina Shamdasani, who spoke on behalf of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR), the total number of civilians killed since March is 1,895 and 4,182 others have been injured.

At least 202 civilians, including 36 women, had been killed, and 353 others injured between July 16-27, according to Shamdasani. The most recent update from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) brings the number of children killed to 365, while 484 others have been injured.

"WHO reported that the largest single attack since the escalation of the conflict in March has killed at least 55 civilians in Al Mukha District in the Taizz Governorate," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. "The number is likely to increase as more bodies are recovered from the rubble, where an unknown number of people have been trapped for more than 36 hours since the attacks."

"The airstrikes hit a residential complex of the Al Mukha Power Plant on 24 July," said Dujarric, adding that according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 20,000 internally displaced people were residing in Al Mukha District, some of whom were in or were staying close to the destroyed complex.