Houthi officials in Yemen said Monday that a U.S. aircraft had struck a jail housing African migrants, killing at least 68 people and injuring 47 more. The U.S. military refrained from commenting immediately.
The attack in Yemen’s Houthi stronghold of Saada governorate is the most recent in a ten-year campaign to murder African migrants from Ethiopia and other countries who enter the country in search of employment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, a neighbour.
Graphic footage shows aftermath of explosion
Graphic footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed what appeared to be dead bodies and others wounded at the site. The Interior Ministry said some 115 migrants had been detained at the site.
The Civil Defense agency said at least 68 people had been killed and 47 others wounded in the attack.
Footage from the site analyzed by the AP suggested some kind of explosion took place there, with its cement walls seemingly peppered by debris fragments and the wounds suffered by those there.
A woman’s voice, soft in the footage, can be heard repeating the start of a prayer in Arabic: “In the name of God.” An occasional gunshot rang out as medics sought to help those wounded.
African migrants caught in middle of Yemen’s war
Ethiopians and other African migrants for years have landed in Yemen, braving the war-torn nation to try and reach Saudi Arabia for work. The Houthi rebels allegedly make tens of thousands of dollars a week smuggling migrants over the border.
Migrants from Ethiopia have found themselves detained, abused and even killed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen during the war. An Oct. 3, 2022, letter to the kingdom from the U.N. said its investigators “received concerning allegations of cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire allegedly by Saudi security forces, causing the deaths of up to 430 and injuring 650 migrants.”
Saudi Arabia has denied killing migrants.
