Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen Sanaa kills and injures at least 38 civilians including children and women

The massacre came as the UN issued a sharp rebuke towards a Saudi-led coalition over its bombing campaign

At least 16 people have been killed and 22 others injured by Saudi-led air strikes on Faj Attan area on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, according to local sources, rescuers and witnesses

Eight children and four women were among those who killed in the overnight attack on a residential district, rescue workers said

At least three houses in the Faj Attan area on the outskirts of the city were hit by the strikes, all but reducing them to rubble, local sources and witnesses told Khabar Agency

The worst-hit house in Friday's attack in Fag Attan was a three-story building occupied by at least three families. Mohammed  al-Rimi and his wife lived on the first floor with their six children. A brother-in-law was visiting. They all perished, except one child

 Mohammed's brother, Ali Nasr al-Rimi told Associated Press he was speaking with him on the phone when the airstrikes started

We heard the first, second and third explosion, then after the forth blast, the line was cut," he said. "I was so afraid, I rushed to the house. I couldn't recognize the place

 For hours, he said he had been retrieving the bodies of his brother's family, "all torn into pieces." One of his brother's children survived, three-year-old Bothina. Her leg was smashed by a huge chunk of cement, Ali Nasr al-Rimi told Associated Press

 Another relative sat by in shock, helplessly watching bulldozers removing rubble and searching for more bodies. The death toll was expected to rise

Nagasaki Sanaa

Fajj Atan, located southwest of the  capital Sana'a and surrounded by several residential neighborhoods, was bombed by airstrikes several times, the most violent of which was the  attack in late April 2015, with rockets, hollow bombs and internationally banned weapons - Yemenis described it as Nagasaki Sanaa - that caused a humanitarian disaster and destroyed the area and revived it into ruin

Hundreds of residents of the area were killed and more than 600 civilians were injured. Houses and buildings were turned into rubble

Yemenis described it as Nagasaki Sanaa
Yemenis described it as Nagasaki Sanaa

 

An independent investigation

The massacre came as the UN issued a sharp rebuke towards Saudi Arabia and its allies over the bombing campaign on Yemen, demanding an independent investigation into air strikes on a Sanaa hotel this week that killed dozens of people

The UN has said 58 civilians were killed in Yemen in the week up to Thursday, including 42 by the Saudi-led coalition
 
UN human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said: We remind all parties to the conflict, including the coalition, of their duty to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law

Yemeni man covered in blood stains reacts as rescuers search for survivors in the debris of buildings in Sanaa: AFP/GettyImages
Yemeni man covered in blood stains reacts as rescuers search for survivors in the debris of buildings in Sanaa: AFP/GettyImages

 

Last week a draft UN report accused the coalition of killing hundreds of children in Yemen

The report, which has yet to be made public and could still be changed, estimated that 51 per cent of all child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year were the result of the Saudi-led military operation. It  said the death toll was unacceptably high

Western governments, including the US and the UK, have also faced  criticism for providing logistical support and political backing to the nine-nation coalition. British companies have continued to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia despite growing concern about civilian casualties