Yemen rebels: Dozens killed in Sanaa air raids on funeral

Rebels in control of Yemen's capital accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting them of killing dozens of people Saturday and wounding hundreds more in air strikes on a funeral in Sanaa.

The strikes came as Saudi Arabia, which has overseen the bombing of Huthi rebels in Yemen since March 2015, is under increasing international scrutiny over alleged civilian deaths in its air raids.

Officials at the rebel-controlled health ministry in Sanaa said at least 450 people were killed or wounded in the air strikes, although there was no immediate independent confirmation of the figure.

Emergency workers pulled at least 20 charred remains and body parts from the gutted building while others scoured the wreckage in search for survivors, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

Some wounded had their legs torn off and were being treated on the spot by volunteers, he said.

The insurgent-controlled news site sabanews.net said that coalition planes hit a building in southern Sanaa where hundreds had gathered to mourn the death of the father of a prominent local official.

It said the fate of the official -- rebel interior minister Jalal al-Rowaishan -- was unknown.

Rebel Almasirah television said Sanaa mayor Abdel Qader Hilal was among those killed. 

People had come from all over Sanaa to attend the funeral, said Mulatif al-Mojani who witnessed the air strikes.

"A plane fired a missile and minutes later another plane pounded" the building  had gathered, he told AFP.

Another witness, who declined to give his name, described the attack as "war crime".

"This was a funeral for one man in Sanaa and now it has turned into a funeral for tens of Yemenis," he said.

A security source, quoted by the rebel website, said a fire ripped through the building.

The Iran-backed Huthis swept into Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced across much of Yemen, forcing the internationally recognised government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee Sanaa. 

More than 6,700 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed in Yemen since the coalition intervened in support Hadi, according to the United Nations.

Ambulance sirens blared as they transported the wounded away and residents said local hospitals had issued an appeal for blood donations.

The Saudi-led alliance has come under mounting international criticism in recent months over the civilian death toll in its aerial campaign.

A UN report in August said coalition air strikes are suspected of causing around half of all civilian deaths in Yemen. 

It called for an independent international body to investigate an array of serious violations by all sides, after 4,000 civilians have been killed.

The coalition has told AFP it uses highly accurate laser- and GPS-guided weapons and verifies targets many times to avoid civilian casualties.

In addition to the mounting death toll, Yemenis are facing twin health and hunger crises.

The UN's children agency UNICEF estimates that three million people are in need of immediate food supplies, while 1.5 million children suffer malnutrition.

Source: AFP