Death Toll In Saudi-Led Airstrike In Yemen Rises To 82

The death toll from a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a prison run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels climbed to at least 82 detainees, the rebels and an aid group said Saturday. Internet access in the Arab world’s poorest country remained largely down, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Photo Insert: The airstrike is said to have hit a different part of the facility housing other types of detainees.

The airstrike in northern Saada province on Friday was part of an intense air and ground offensive that marked an escalation in Yemen’s years-long civil war. The conflict pits the internationally recognized government, aided by the Saudi-led coalition, against the Iranian-backed rebels.

Ahmed Mahat, head of Doctors Without Borders, a charity mission in Yemen, told AP they counted at least 82 dead and more than 265 wounded in the airstrike, Euronews also reported.

The Houthis’ media office said that rescuers were still searching for survivors and bodies in the rubble of the prison site on the border with Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis used the prison complex to hold detained migrants, mostly Africans attempting to cross through the war-torn country into Saudi Arabia, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children.

Mahat said the airstrike hit a different part of the facility housing other types of detainees. “The migrants there are safe,” he said.

The air attack, one of the deadliest of the war, renewed criticism of the coalition from the United Nations and international aid and rights groups. Saudi coalition spokesman Brig. Gen.

Turki al-Malki alleged the Houthis hadn’t reported the site as needing protection from airstrikes to the UN or the International Committee of the Red Cross. He claimed the Houthis’ failure to do so represented the militia's “usual deceptive approach” in the conflict.

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