Saudi Air Strikes Kill Up to 70 Yemeni Civilians

Scores Wounded as Warplanes Attack Northern Yemeni Market

by Jason Ditz, December 13, 2009

Saudi warplanes launched a series of air strikes against a market in Northern Yemen’s Bani Maan today, with witnesses confirming that at least 35 civilians had been killed and dozens injured.

The Shi’ite separatists that have been fighting along the Saudi border later insisted that the raid had actually killed 70 people and over 100 were wounded. Exact figures are impossible to ascertain with the Yemeni government blocking reporters from the region.

The Saudi government has yet to comment but the Yemeni government, always quick to make spurious claims about the situation on the ground, insisted they were actually the ones who attacked the market, and that every person in the market was actually a militant.

The Saudi military has been bombing the region off and on for over a month, as the rebels clash with patrols along the ill-defined border. Yemen’s government has repeatedly condemned the Shi’ite separatist faction, and has denied that any Saudi bombings took place, even when the Saudi government confirmed them.

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