Seven people killed as missile lands near hospital in northwest Yemen

(March 27) Seven persons were killed including four children in an air raid in which a missile landed near a hospital in rural northwest Yemen according to a report from Save the Children.

Missile lands close to the hospital

The agency also claimed that two adults were not accounted for. The organization said a missile hit a gasoline station near the entrance to Kitaf rural hospital about 100 km from the city of Saada. The missile was said to have landed within 50 meters of the main building. The agency said the hospital had just been open for half an hour when the missile struck at about 9:30 AM local time.

Many patients and staff were arriving on a busy morning. Among those killed were a health worker and the worker's 2 children as well as a security guard.

The group demanded an immediate investigation of the incident. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of the agency said that the grouphtt was shocked and appalled by the attack adding : "Innocent children and health workers have lost their lives in what appears to been an indiscriminate attack on a hospital in a densely populated civilian area. Attacks like these are a breach of international law." Thorning-Schmidt said the hospital is one of many that Save the Children supports in Yemen.

The Saudis have yet to comment on the attack but as a recent article notes: "This is likely to be one of those Saudi attacks met with blanket denials or silence, as some early media coverage referred to the strike as a “missile,” and may allow them to falsely accuse the Shi’ite Houthi movement of attacking a hospital in the predominantly Shi’ite area. "

Save the Children estimates that an average 37 Yemeni children are killed or injured every month in air attacks in the last year.

Thousands of Yemeni civilians killed in air raids

The air raids are carried out by a coalition led by the Saudis and UAE and have hit schools, hospitals and even wedding parties and a bus carrying children. Thousands of Yemeni civilians have been killed.

Mark Lowcock of the UN said that about 80 percent of the Yemeni population about 24 million people need humanitarian assistance with almost 10 million near the famine stage, and 240,000 facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Thorning-Schmidt called for an immediate suspension of arms sales to the warring parties and for more diplomatic pressure to end the conflict.

As the appended video, from the summer of 2016, shows this is not the first attack by the Saudi-led coalition that has targeted a hospital.

Previously published in Digital Journal