U.S.-backed Saudi airstrikes kill dozens at Yemeni funeral service

The aftermath of a Saudi-led strike on a funeral in Yemen

(Image credit: Mohammed Huwais/Getty Images)

last updated 9 October 2016

Bombs dropped by Saudi Arabia-led coalition aircraft on a funeral in Yemen Saturday killed more than 140 people and injured as many as 525 more, a United Nations official said.

The rockets were fired at mourners of the father of Interior Minister Jalal al-Roweishan, destroying the building where the funeral was held. Witnesses described a plume of black smoke rising from the strike site and overloaded medical workers dealing with serious wounds and burns. "The place has been turned into a lake of blood," said one rescue worker.

Though the White House condemned this strike, the Saudi coalition is backed by the United States and has been accused of war crimes for the brutality of its war in Yemen. For more on the effects of the Saudi onslaught and the nature of U.S. support, see this analysis from The Week's Michael Brendan Dougherty.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.