More than 100 people were killed or wounded in an air strike on a Yemeni prison, rescuers said on Friday after a night of deadly bombing underlined a dramatic escalation in violence.
Basheer Omar, spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross in Yemen, said numbers were still rising following the attack in Saada, home city of the Houthi rebel movement.
“There are more than 100 killed and injured... the numbers are going up,” he said.
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Gruesome scenes came to light as rescue workers pulled bodies from destroyed prison buildings and piled up mangled corpses, according to footage released by the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents.
Further south in Hodeida, rebel video showed bodies in the rubble and dazed survivors after an air attack from the Saudi Arabia-led pro-government coalition took out a telecommunications hub. Yemen suffered a nationwide internet blackout, a web monitor said.
Saada’s hospital has received about 200 people wounded in the prison attack.
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The strikes come five days after the Houthis claimed a drone-and-missile attack on the UAE that killed three people and prompted warnings of reprisals.
The UN Security Council is due to meet at 1500 GMT on Friday on the Houthi attacks against the UAE.
The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the rebels since 2015. The coalition claimed the attack in Hodeida, a lifeline port for the shattered country, but did not say it had carried out any strikes on Saada.