Rebel shelling kills at least 100 in Yemen, aid group head says

 

Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen randomly shelled a town Sunday outside of Aden after losing control of some the port city’s neighborhoods, killing at least 100 people and wounding 200, the head of an international aid group stated.

Hassan Boucenine of the Geneva-based Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, gave the new toll on Monday. He told The Associated Press that the victims in the town of Dar Saad are mostly civilians and that MSF fears “attacks on civilians will continue.”

The violence highlighted the bloody chaos of the civil war gripping the Arab world’s poorest country, which also has been the target of Saudi-led, U.S.-backed airstrikes since late March.

A leader with the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, denied shelling Dar Saad, which is just north of Aden and long home to fighters resisting their advances. But Boucenine and Yemeni medical officials said the shelling clearly came from the north and east of Dar Saad — areas under rebel control.

Aden, the scene of some of the war’s fiercest ground battles, saw Saudi-backed troops and fighters seize from the Houthis some of its neighborhoods and its international airport last week. Sunday’s shelling in Dar Saad appeared to be a way to both punish those resisting the Houthis, as well as halt the advance of their opponents. (FOX)