Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen rebel-run prison kill over 100

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni medics say they pulled dozens of bodies from the rubble of a Houthi rebel-run detention center that was hit a day earlier by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, killing over 100 people and wounding dozens.

It is the deadliest such attack so far this year in a stalemated four-year war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, thrust millions to the brink of famine and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition, which has fought the Iran-backed Houthis since 2015, has faced international criticism for airstrikes that have hit schools, hospitals and wedding parties, killing thousands of civilians.

By the early afternoon, 86 bodies had been pulled from the ruins of a building complex in southwestern Dhamar province, originally a college but converted by the Houthi rebels to a detention center, Yemen’s Red Crescent says.

There were around 170 detainees at the facility when the airstrikes hit on Sunday. The International Committee for the Red Cross says 40 wounded are being treated for injuries while the rest are presumed dead, and that it will likely take days to recover all the bodies. The Houthis say the detainees were captured forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government, and that both the Red Cross and the coalition knew detainees were being held there.

— AP