Thirty Pro-Hadi Forces Killed by Friendly Fire from Saudi-Led Strikes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Saudi-led coalition jets targeting Houthis in Yemen killed 30 forces loyal to Yemeni fugitive former President, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi when they mistakenly bombed a military camp in the province of Taiz on Saturday, local officials said.
The airstrike, in which another 40 forces were wounded, was the latest in a series of "friendly fire" incidents that have plagued the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis since it began in March.
Officials from the Saudi coalition and the former Yemeni governement could not immediately be reached for comment.
Saturday's strikes hit a mountainous area close to the southwestern city of Taiz where fighting is intense between local fighters and troops loyal to veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has sided with the Houthis, officials close to Hadi told Reuters.
"The coalition raid hit the wrong target," one official said.
On Sept. 28, 131 people were killed when missiles fired from coalition planes hit a wedding party in the Red Sea village of al-Wahijah, near the ancient port of al-Mokha.
At least 5,400 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the six-month civil war in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, and the United Nations says the humanitarian situation, exacerbated by a Saudi blockade of Yemen's ports, is "critical".
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military intervention since March to try to restore power to Hadi.
