Sanaa, July 19 (IANS/AKI) At least 20 civilians including women and children died in an air strike on the city of Taiz in southern Yemen, the UN said on Wednesday, condemning the attack.
"Injuries have also been reported with a number also taken to nearby hospitals for treatment," the UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement.
UNHCR said it was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the attack and the reported casualties.
The civilians killed in the attack were refugees fleeing embattled Mawza district in Taiz governorate aboard a packed vehicle and were understood to be from the same family, UNHCR said.
"A peaceful political solution to resolve the conflict in Yemen is urgently needed to end civilian suffering," UNHCR stated.
The air strike is believed to have been carried out on Tuesday by war planes from the Saudi-led coalition, according to Sabaa news agency, which is controlled by Yemen's Shia Houthi rebels.
Coalition warplanes also flattened three buildings in the village of al-Atira in Taiz province, according to Sabaa.
The coalition has since March 2015 been targeting Houthi rebels fighting pro-government forces in Yemen in the country's deadly civil war and international rights groups accuse it of bombing civilian gatherings, markets, hospitals and residential areas across the country.
The war has been mired in stalemate for most of the last two years, with more than 10,000 civilians killed and several million left homeless.
--IANS/AKI
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