A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition used bombs supplied by the United States in an attack on a market in Yemen last month that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday.
The group said it had found fragments of two American-made bombs at the market, in the northern district of Mastaba, linking the United States for the first time to the March 15 airstrikes, which were believed to be the deadliest coalition bombings during Yemen’s yearlong civil war. The high death toll, along with images of children killed in the blasts, ignited international outrage and prompted calls for an investigation.
The Saudi-led coalition has been criticized for carrying out indiscriminate airstrikes that have hit markets, hospitals and homes as it has waged war against the Houthis, a rebel group from Yemen’s north that seized power from the government last year.
Coalition airstrikes have caused most of the civilian deaths in the conflict, according to the United Nations, and have led to mounting calls in Europe for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. An airstrike on another market, in February near Sana, the capital, led the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to call for an inquiry.
The debate in the United States over the airstrikes has been much more muted, in part because the Obama administration has provided few details about its precise role in the air campaign. American officials have said they provide assistance to the coalition, including intelligence from reconnaissance drones, airborne fuel tankers and advanced munitions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/world/middleeast/report-ties-us-bombs-to-saudi-led-strike-that-killed-yemeni-civilians.html
