The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced a probe into an airstrike on a bus that killed at least 29 children.
“The leadership of the coalition has ordered the immediate opening of an investigation to assess the events, clarify their circumstances and announce the results as soon as possible,” State-run Saudi Press Agency quoted a senior coalition official as saying on Friday, August 10.
The senior official said the decision to investigate the strike followed information reported by “media and international organisations working in Yemen, regarding an operation by coalition forces in the province of Sa’ada Thursday, and of a passenger bus which suffered collateral damage in this operation.”
The announcement came a day after the raid in the northern Yemeni rebel stronghold of Sa’ada that also left at least 48 others wounded, stirring calls for an investigation from the United Nations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said the Thursday airstrike hit a bus full of children traveling through Dahyan market in northern Sa’ada, killing and injuring dozens.
Coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Maiki said the strike was a legitimate military action that targeted Houthi rebels responsible for a missile attack on Saudi Arabia the previous day.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an “independent and prompt” investigation into the incident. The U.N. Security Council is set to meet later Friday at the request of non-permanent members Bolivia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland and Sweden.
With reporting from AFP