Sanaa, March 31 (IANS) At least eight civilians were killed when a Saudi-led air raid overnight Monday hit a village, a gas plant and petrol stations in Yemen’s central province of Ibb, an official and residents told Xinhua news agency, pushing the toll to 83 while about 350 people were wounded.
“The warplanes fired missiles on Marawiah village, a gas plant and petrol station in Ibb’s central city of Yarim, killing at least seven civilians, including two workers of the gas plant, and wounding 28 others mostly from residents in nearby houses,” the official said.
Residents said another air raid hit a gas tanker truck in front of the provincial reserve forces camp while it was moving on the highway at the northern entrance of Yarim city, setting the truck on fire, killing the driver and damaging nearby houses.
However, a security official told Xinhua that the airstrike targeted a military convoy of the Shia Houthi militia in Marawiah village and Houthi military checkpoints on the highway and near the gas plant and petrol station.
The airstrikes also hit several military targets in the capital Sanaa, bombed an ammunition depot on the mountain of Faj Attan in southern Sanaa, which is under control of the reserve forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Residents said the depot exploded and fired fragments hundreds of meters away to surrounding neighborhoods.
The attacks in Sanaa also targeted air defence and radar system at al-Dailami Airforce Base, which lies adjacent to the civil airport that is already closed after the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces launched their “Decisive Storm” operation on March 26.
On Monday, the official Saba news agency, which is under the control of the Houthi militia, reported that 40 Yemeni refugees were killed and over 250 others wounded when a Saudi-led airstrike hit al-Mazrak refugee camp in Haradh district on the northwest border with Saudi Arabia. It said the dead included women and children.
The health ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the air raids have left 35 people deads and 88 others injured across the country.
The airstrikes continued around the clock on Tuesday dawn, targeted the weapons depots and missile bases on mountains overlooking the capital, as well as al-Dailami air force base in northern Sanaa.
Huge explosions rocked Sanaa as anti-craft artillery kept firing back until early Tuesday morning. There is no immediate reports on casualties.
On March 26, Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member states launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, a move condemned by Iran but supported by the US, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.
Saudi Arabia said the Saudi-led military airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen would continue until security was restored and Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who left the country last week, was able to return and resume authority.
The Shia Houthi forces ousted Hadi in February and forced him to flee the country, turning Yemen into a field of violence and raising fears of a civil war in the chaotic country.