Another MSF Hospital Hit in Airstrike; at Least 6 Dead

A Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders in northern Yemen on Monday, reports the AFP, killing at least six and wounding 20. The group, known by the French acronym MSF, said the strike hit near the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada, where teams were still attending to the wounded, reports the AP. Yemeni security and medical officials say the strike killed and wounded about 20 of the hospital's staff and patients. MSF "confirms that Abs hospital (in Hajja province) was targeted," it tweeted. The conflict in Yemen pits an internationally-recognized government backed by a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite rebels, who captured the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014.

The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen since March 2015. On Saturday, an airstrike on a school killed at least 10 children and wounded dozens more, Yemeni officials and aid workers said. The Saudis denied hitting a school, saying the target was a Houthi training camp and accusing the rebels of recruiting children. Earlier this month, the coalition acknowledged that it had committed "unintended bombings" that caused civilian casualties during its nearly 18-month air campaign, blaming UN agencies for not coordinating with it. MSF said in May that at least 100 staff members, patients, and caretakers were killed, and another 130 were wounded, in attacks on more than 80 MSF-supported and run health structures in 2015 and early 2016. (More Doctors Without Borders stories.)