Dozens feared dead after airstrikes hit prisons in Yemen

Yemeni security and medical officials say dozens of prisoners and security personnel are feared dead after airstrikes battered two prisons inside a security headquarters in a western port city.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

30 October, 2016

Saudi-led Arab air forces and US drones control the skies in Yemen [AFP file photo]

Yemeni security and medical officials say dozens of prisoners and security personnel are feared dead after airstrikes battered two prisons inside a security headquarters in a western port city.

The city is under control of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have seized the capital and much of the northern region in 2014.

The Houthis’ TV network al-Masirah said that 43 people were killed in the airstrikes but it was not immediately possible to verify its account.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

Earlier, at least 17 civilians were killed and seven others injured in Saudi-led coalition strikes near Taiz in Yemen on Saturday.

The rebel-controlled news agency Saba News reported that two missiles hit civilian homes in the villages of al-Sharaf and al-Maabaran in the administrative area of al-Salu.

A Yemeni official said that 11 civilians, including one child and seven women had been killed after three homes were hit in coalition strikes by mistake, while AFP reported that a public hospital had received the bodies of 15 people and seven who were wounded.

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