Airstrike hits police facility in Yemen, 20 killed

REUTERS

A policeman stands guard on the debris at the site of a Saudi-led air strike on the police headquarters in Yemen's capital Sanaa, on Monday. Twenty persons were killed in the aerial attack.

Policemen and Houthi rebels were counted among the dead.

An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition targeted a building used by police in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, killing at least 20 people and wounding about 15, security officials said on Monday.

The officials, who are loyal to anti-government Shiite rebels known as the Houthis, said some 30 more people were believed to be still trapped under the debris of the badly damaged building in central Sana’a.

Cops, Houthis killed

Police vehicles parked in the facility’s courtyard were destroyed and nearby homes suffered some damage, they said.

The dead and wounded were policemen and Houthi rebels, they said.

Area sealed off

Security forces sealed off the area as earth-moving equipment arrived to help with the search for bodies and survivors under the debris. The building was partially used as a gathering point for security forces and occasionally by the Houthis as an assembly point for forces headed to deployment elsewhere in Yemen.

The airstrike happened shortly before midnight on Sunday, according to the officials, who had no further details.

Reporters barred from the area

Reporters were barred from approaching the facility, they said, speaking on Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against the Houthis and their allies in March 2015, siding with the internationally recognised government.

IRIN says contributor killed in attack

Meanwhile, the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), a Nairobi-based humanitarian news agency, has announced the death of one of its contributors in Yemen. In a statement, it said 35-year-old Almigdad Mohammed Ali Mojalli was killed on Sunday just outside Sana’a in an “apparent” airstrike.

Mr. Mojalli also contributed from Yemen to Western media outlets, including ‘Voice of America’ and Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, said the statement.

Over 5, 800 killed so far

The fighting in Yemen has, since last March, killed more than 5,800 people.