Amnesty urges investigation into deadly US air strike on migrant detention centre in Yemen

Amnesty International has called for an urgent and independent investigation into a deadly US air strike that hit a migrant detention centre in Yemen's Sa'ada province on 28 April, killing and injuring dozens of African migrants.

In a statement on Monday, the rights group said the attack may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and potentially a war crime, given that the facility was a known civilian site regularly visited by humanitarian agencies.

"The US attacked a well-known detention facility where the Houthis have been detaining migrants who had no means to take shelter," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general.

"The major loss of civilian life in this attack raises serious concerns about whether the US complied with its obligations under international law, including the rules on distinction and precautions," Callamard added.

The Saada strike is part of an ongoing US military campaign in Yemen that began under President Joe Biden and expanded under the Trump administration in March 2025, although since put on hold following a ceasefire agreement with the Houthis.

US Central Command has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes, allegedly targeting Houthi military infrastructure, but has not provided details on the April 28 incident.

A Pentagon spokesperson said only that a "battle damage assessment" was underway.

Amnesty analysed satellite imagery and videos from the site and interviewed three individuals working with African migrant communities. Two witnesses who visited the scene and nearby hospitals described horrific scenes of dismembered bodies and overwhelmed morgues.

One said he saw more than two dozen Ethiopian migrants with severe injuries, including amputations and fractures. Another, who spoke with survivors, said: "They told me they were sleeping when they were hit with the first missile… You could see the shock and horror on their faces."

According to the Houthi-run interior ministry, 68 of the 115 detainees held at the centre were killed and 47 were injured.

Amnesty's weapons experts identified remnants of US-made GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs at the site. The rights group noted that the same prison compound was also struck by the Saudi-led coalition in January 2022 using a US-made munition, killing over 90 people.

"The US should have known that the Sa'ada prison was a civilian facility housing migrants, and that any attack would likely result in significant civilian harm," Callamard said.

Under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict are obligated to distinguish between military targets and civilians, and to cancel or suspend an attack if there is doubt about the target's nature.

Amnesty said it found no clear evidence of any legitimate military targets at the site.

The organisation also raised alarm over reported efforts by the Trump administration to roll back protections against civilian harm in US military operations, including firing senior legal officials and scaling back oversight mechanisms at the Pentagon.

"At a time when the US appears to be shrinking efforts aimed at reducing civilian harm by US lethal actions, the US Congress must play its oversight role," Callamard added. "Mechanisms to investigate and respond to civilian harm must remain intact - and must be used."

If the reported death toll is accurate, the Saada air strike would be the deadliest single incident of civilian harm by US forces since the 2017 Mosul strike.