At least 50 people, mostly women and children, were killed and 100 others wounded when random mortar shells struck a refugee camp in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden on Wednesday, a medical official and witnesses told Xinhua news agency.
“Several mortar rounds and tank shells randomly struck a refugee camp in Tawahi district of Aden, while hundreds of people were gathering and preparing to escape from fierce battles by boats to other places,” the medical official of Aden’s health department said.
According to the initial counts from local medical centres, 50 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the incident. Witnesses near the scene confirmed to Xinhua by phone that “scores of civilians were either killed or wounded after being hit by random shells while they were trying to reach small boats to flee the fighting in Tawahi”.
The fighting between the Shia Houthi group and tribal militia loyal to Yemen’s President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi escalated in Aden’s district of Tawahi, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes by boats to the Buraiga district in western Aden.
So far, neither side has commented on the incident.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes due to fierce street battles between the two sides since late March.
The pro-Hadi militia covered by warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition forces on Wednesday failed to repel an attack by the Houthi gunmen who stormed and took control of the densely populated Tawahi in Aden, where key Government facilities and headquarters of the Fourth Regional Military Command are located, according to Government officials based in Aden.
Several sources in the area said tens of thousands of residents who fled their homes in Tawahi, Mu’alla and Crater had sought refuge in neighbouring areas as the fierce battles between the two warring rivals and Saudi-led airstrikes were heavily intensified during the past three days. A security source confirmed that the Houthi gunmen killed Major General Ali Nasser Hadi, the commander of the Fourth Regional Military Command that announced loyalty to Hadi.