CAIRO (AP) – The Saudi-led coalition carried out several airstrikes in Yemen early on Wednesday, hitting a small hotel near the capital of Sanaa and killing dozens of Shiite Houthi rebels and civilians, Yemeni officials and witnesses said.
According to the officials, an estimated number of 60 were killed in the attack, which took place in the strikes on Wednesday morning in the town of Arhab, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Sanaa.
The two-story hotel in the town’s Qaa al-Qaidhi neighborhood sustained extensive damage and bodies were still being retrieved from under the rubble, witnesses said. They also said another airstrike hit a checkpoint manned by the Houthis, a few kilometers (miles) from the hotel.
The officials and the witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Footage of the area aired on al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-run satellite news network, showed bodies hanging out of a simple cinderblock building. Bystanders wrapped mangled corpses into blankets to try to carry them away.