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UN: 17 Civilians Killed in 3rd Attack on Yemen Market

AFP

   SANAA, YEMEN - Seventeen civilians were killed in an attack in a market
   in Yemen's northern Saada governorate, the United Nations said, the
   third deadly assault on the same location in just over a month.

   The attacks come despite relative calm in Yemen, where large-scale
   combat between government troops-- backed by a Saudi-led military
   coalition-- and the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels has largely subsided.

   The U.N. said 12 Ethiopian migrants were among the 17 civilians killed
   in the incident on Tuesday at the al-Raqw market in Saada governorate,
   a Huthi rebel stronghold.

   At least 12 people were wounded, it said, without saying who was
   responsible or what weaponry was used.

   The Saudi-led coalition acknowledged on Thursday it had carried out an
   operation in Monabbih, a Saada district where the market is located.

   The Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT)-- which the coalition
   established but says operates independently-- will investigate "the
   possibility of collateral damage," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki
   said in a statement.

   The coalition did not provide further details.

   An attack on al-Raqw market on November 22 killed 10 civilians, again
   including Ethiopian nationals, and just days later, at least another 10
   civilians were killed and 22 wounded in a second such incident.

   "The attacks on al-Raqw market raise deeply troubling questions about
   the commitment of the parties to the conflict to uphold international
   humanitarian law," Lise Grande, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for
   Yemen, said Wednesday.

   "Every attack of this kind is a gross violation," she said in a
   statement.

   The U.N. says 89 civilians have either been killed or wounded in the
   attacks on the market.

   Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and
   millions displaced since March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition
   intervened in Yemen's conflict.