An attack on a funeral hall killed 90 people and wounded more than 560 in Sanaa Saturday, Yemen's rebel government says. The Saudi-led coalition has promised to conduct an immediate investigation into the airstrikes.
"We're mobilizing to support health facilities deal with the influx of dead and wounded," the Red Cross delegation in Yemen says, adding that it's sending 300 body bags and medical supplies to help cope with the violence's effects.
We're mobilizing to support health facilities deal with the influx of dead and wounded. 300 body bags & medical supplies on the way #Sana'a
— ICRC Yemen (@ICRC_ye) October 8, 2016
News of the strike spread quickly online — particularly after video emerged that seems to show part of the attack.
From Beirut, Alison Meuse reports for our Newscast unit:
"Amateur video uploaded to Facebook shows plumes of smoke rising from the largest hall in the capital Sanaa. The camera shakes as a plane is heard approaching.
"A bomb drops, and shrapnel ricochets into the air. NPR verified the video with a Yemeni journalist NPR works with.
"Yemen's public health ministry says hospitals are still receiving the wounded and counting the dead. Victims were attending a funeral for the father of a minister—part of the Houthi rebel-led government.
"It's been more than 18 months since Saudi Arabia launched an air war against the Houthis, which it views as proxies of Iran. The U.S. backs the Saudi campaign and recently approved more than a billion dollars in military sales."
"Sources in the Saudi-led coalition said there was no Arab coalition air role in the strike," Reuters reports.
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