Dozens killed, injured in airstrikes targeting Yemeni market

(Image credit: Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

last updated 17 March 2016

Airstrikes that hit a market in northern Yemen on Wednesday killed at least 78 civilians and injured more than 100 people.

Medical officials told CNN that three Saudi airstrikes hit the Khamees Market in Mustaba'a, Hajjah, with two striking the center of the market at the busiest time of day and one hitting the gates. A shop owner told CNN that "dozens of bodies were completely burned" and others were "unrecognizable" after being "splattered in pieces." Seven children were among the dead.

On his Facebook page, an adviser at the Saudi Defense Minister's Office, Ahmed bin Hassan al-Asiri, said the strikes weren't necessarily carried out by Saudi Arabia, and there will be an inquiry. Less than two weeks ago, Houthi and Saudi representatives held a secret meeting in an attempt to end the war, CNN reports, and a senior Houthi official said they "opened our hands for peace and negotiations and while we do that, Saudi still attacks and kills innocent civilians. The market attack is by far one of the deadliest in Yemen since the start of the Saudi attacks."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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