Marib/riyadh: At least 14 pro-government troops were killed when a Saudi-led coalition air raid targeted their position “by mistake”, tribal and military sources said yesterday.
“The air force bombed a gathering of fighters in the region of Harib believing them to be Huthi rebels,” a military source said.
A tribal chief confirmed the overnight strike, saying that those killed appeared to be local tribesmen fighting on the side of the forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Harib is around 80km south of Marib, the capital of the central province. Loyalist forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, say they are advancing on the ground in Marib as part of a major counter offensive against Shiite Huthi rebels, who last year stormed Yemen’s capital and seized large parts of the country.
Coalition aircraft launched a series of raids Friday morning on rebel positions in the south of the province, military sources said.
The United Nations says nearly 4,900 people have been killed and around 25,000 wounded since late March, while 21 million out of Yemen’s population of 25 million have been affected by the conflict.
Coalition is making slow but steady progress five days into a major offensive towards the rebel-held capital of Yemen, a coalition source said yesterday.
Giving a rare update on the fighting in Marib province, east of Sana’a, the source said “things are going slowly but surely.”
Coalition-supported forces backing exiled President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi began their push on Sunday against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and allied troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Taking Marib, in central Yemen, would allow the coalition to move on Sana’a, which the Houthis seized last year. “The battle will not enter its decisive phase yet,” because the coalition seeks to minimise its casualties, the source said.AFP
