Yemen's Ansarullah urges intl. probe into Saudi strike on funeral

Rasa - Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement has called for an international probe into a recent Saudi airstrike on a funeral in the capital Sana'a that killed at least 140 people.

News ID: 424354

Date: 16 October 2016 - 23:15

RNA - In a statement issued on Sunday, Ansarullah urged the United Nations to form an independent committee to investigate the airstrike.

The outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "should form an independent and international investigation committee headed by a high-profile, neutral and international personality as soon as possible to probe war crimes committed by the coalition in Yemen," the statement read.

In one of the deadliest single attacks on Yemen, Saudi warplanes bombarded the funeral hall packed with mourners in Sana’a on October 8.

The United Nations Security Council has so far failed to agree on a statement condemning the airstrike.

The Ansarullah statement further noted that the Riyadh regime’s acknowledgement that it wrongly hit the funeral "does not clear its leadership of violating international humanitarian law and all humanitarian norms and conventions."

A statement by a Saudi investigative body said on Saturday that the kingdom had carried out the strike based on what it called bad information.

Saudi officials initially said their aircraft had not carried out any attack on the Yemeni capital that day.

The incident prompted global condemnation, with Human Rights Watch saying the airstrike was an apparent war crime.

The leading rights group on Thursday said Saudi Arabia had used its position in the Human Rights Council “to obstruct efforts to establish an international inquiry into ongoing violations in Yemen.”

Therefore, the Saudi regime had "no place on the UN body," the New York-based group added.

The group called on both the United States and Britain to immediately suspend all arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

More than 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since the regime in Riyadh launched its deadly campaign against the impoverished country in March 2015.

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