JEDDAH/ADEN: A military vessel and a helicopter gunship Friday attacked a boat packed with Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen, killing at least 42 people, said Yemeni officials and a survivor who witnessed the attack.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, dismissed Houthi accusations that the coalition carried out the attack.
He told Arab News that the coalition forces had not been involved in fighting in Al-Hodeida where the attack took place. “There has been no firing by the coalition in this zone,” the spokesman said.
A Yemeni trafficker who survived the attack said the boat was filled with Somali refugees, including women and children, who were trying to reach Sudan from war-torn Yemen.
Al-Hassan Ghaleb Mohammed said the boat had left from Ras Arra, along the southern coastline in Al-Hodeida province, and was 50 km off the coast, near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, when the military vessel and then the helicopter gunship opened fire.
He described a scene of panic in which the refugees held up flashlights, apparently to show that they were poor migrants. He said the helicopter then stopped firing, but only after dozens had been killed. Mohammed was unharmed in the attack.
A top official with the UN’s migration agency said 42 bodies have been recovered from the attack. Mohammed Abdiker, emergencies director at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, said the attack at around 3 a.m. on Friday was “totally unacceptable” and that combatants should have checked who was aboard the boat “before firing on it.”
He said about 75 men and 15 women who survived the attack were taken to detention centers, and some bodies were laid in a fish market in Al-Hodeida because of a lack of space in mortuaries.
— with input from AFP, AP
Coalition rejects Houthi claim it is behind attack on refugee boat that left 42 dead
Coalition rejects Houthi claim it is behind attack on refugee boat that left 42 dead
Italy urges its citizens to leave Iran, be vigilant across Middle East
- The ministry said travel to Iraq and Lebanon was also strongly discouraged
- It advised Italian nationals in Israel to exercise maximum caution
ROME: Italy’s foreign ministry on Friday urged its citizens to leave Iran and advised extreme caution across the Middle East, citing persistently unstable security conditions.
“Italians in (Iran) for tourism or whose presence is not strictly necessary are urged to depart,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that travel to Iraq and Lebanon was also strongly discouraged.
It advised Italian nationals in Israel to exercise maximum caution and remain vigilant.
Several governments have issued similar warnings in recent days. Britain said on Friday it had temporarily withdrawn its staff from Iran and closed its embassy amid rising regional tensions.
The United States has built up a large military presence across the Middle East ahead of a possible strike on Iran, as talks between the two countries over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions continue with no sign of a breakthrough.
