Aid agency Doctors Without Borders condemned a missile strike on one of its clinics yesterday in northern Yemen, saying it had killed at least four people and wounded 10 others.
Three MSF staff members are among the wounded and two are in “critical condition”, the agency said in a statement, adding that toll could rise as several buildings have collapsed.
“The numbers of casualties could rise as there could still be people trapped in the rubble,” MSF added.
The missile struck the medical facility in the Razeh district of Saada province, the agency said. All staff and patients were evacuated, with patients being transferred to another MSF-supported hospital in Saada, it said.
MSF could not specify whether the medical facility was hit in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition or by a rocket fired from the ground.
MSF director of operations Raquel Ayora denounced the missile strike and repeated that the agency constantly shares the co-ordinates of its medical facilities with warring factions in Yemen. “All warring parties are regularly informed of the GPS coordinates of the medical sites where MSF works,” said Ayora.
Saada is the heartland of the Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels that the coalition has been bombing since March in support of Yemen’s beleaguered government.
The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen denied yesterday renewed accusations of dropping cluster munitions in the country after UN chief Ban Ki-moon said their use may be a “war crime”.