JEDDAH: The coalition led by Saudi Arabia on Sunday denied targeting a school in Yemen’s north in an attack that Doctors Without Borders claimed killed 10 children.
Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri said the strikes hit a Houthi training camp, killing militia fighters including a leader identified as Yehya Munassar Abu Rabua.
“The site that was bombed ... is a major training camp for militia,” he said. “Why would children be at a training camp?”
Al-Assiri said MSF’s toll “confirms the Houthis’ practice of recruiting and subjecting children to terror.”
He explained: “They... use them as scouts, guards, messengers and fighters,” noting previous reports from Human Rights Watch on the rebels’ use of underage recruits. “When jets target training camps, they cannot distinguish between ages.”
He added: “We hoped MSF would take measures to stop the recruitment of children to fight in wars instead of crying over them in the media.”
Meanwhile, shells fired by Houthi terrorists hit a water plant in Najran at noontime Sunday, injuring six expatriate workers, SPA reported.
The injured workers are three Indians, two Bangladeshis and one Nepalese, said the report, quoting a Najran Civil Defense official. Parts of the plant and some parked vehicles were damaged.
A missile fired by the Houthis was intercepted over Najran by Saudi forces on Sunday. Last Wednesday, two missiles aimed at Abha and Khamis Mushayt were shot down.
Separately, Yemeni government forces entered Zinjibar on Sunday backed by Saudi-led airstrikes as they launched an offensive to recapture southern Abyan province and its capital from Al-Qaeda.
“Zinjibar was retaken from Al-Qaeda fighters, most of whom have fled the city,” said military commander Abdullah Al-Fadhli who is leading the offensive.
He said fighting was still underway however in northern districts of the city where militants were still holed up.
Residents and military sources said hundreds of troops battled their way into Zinjibar, where some 100,000 people live, and captured the local government headquarters from retreating terrorists.
