A raid killed 68 people in a migrant detention centre in Yemen. The Houthis are accusing the US, which has carried out over 800 attacks on the country in the past month.
The United States bombed a detention centre for African migrants in Yemen, causing a massacre. The accusation comes from the Houthi rebels, who report at least 68 deaths and dozens more injured. Al Masirah TV published the first images, verified by Al Jazeera, showing numerous bodies among the rubble. In 2022, the facility was struck by another raid launched by the anti-Houthi coalition led by Saudi Arabia. On that occasion, 66 of the migrants being held there were killed.
At least 68 people are dead and 47 injured following an explosion at a detention centre for African migrants in the governorate of Sanaa, Yemen. The Houthis, the Iran-backed Shia militia that controls the region, have alleged that it was an air strike carried out by the United States. Washington has for months been waging a military campaign in the country against the Houthis, after the group launched attacks against cargo ships in the Red Sea and against Israel in response to the genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Al Masirah TV, a local television channel, broadcast images of the rubble of the detention centre, among which numerous bodies are also visible. The international outlet Al Jazeera has verified the footage. More than a hundred migrants were being held at the targeted facility, coming primarily from Ethiopia and Eritrea, passing through Yemen in an attempt to reach Saudi Arabia. These people are the subject of a dispute between the two countries. Over the years, the Saudi regime has been responsible for violent pushbacks and massacres of migrants at the border, while the Houthis in Yemen earn thousands of dollars from trafficking these people towards Riyadh — a pattern similar to that of Libya.
The detention centre struck by the United States on the morning of 28 April had already been the scene of a similar incident in 2022. On that occasion, the attack came from the anti-Houthi coalition led by Saudi Arabia and caused part of the facility to collapse. 66 people were killed, while another 16 who fled the destroyed structure were shot dead by the Houthis to prevent them from escaping.
The United States has so far made no statements about the attack in recent hours, but has acknowledged carrying out over 800 strikes in the country over the past month. Several raids during the night of 27 to 28 April on the capital Sanaa killed at least eight people. On 18 April, a US strike on the fuel supply port of Ras Isa killed at least 74 people, making it the deadliest attack ever recorded in the American campaign.