Saudi-Led Coalition Airstrike Kills 10 Women in Yemen

Witnesses and health officials say an airstrike by a US-backed Saudi-led coalition has struck a wedding procession east of Yemen’s capital, killing 10 women.
They say the Sunday airstrike targeted the women as they marched to a village in Maarib Province. They said the bride was among the women, but it was not immediately clear whether she was wounded, AP reported.
It’s a tradition in rural Yemen for the bride’s female friends and relatives to escort her to the wedding ceremony, where the groom awaits.
The witnesses and officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation or were not authorized to brief the media.
The deaths are the latest from more than two years of Saudi Arabia’s devastating military campaign against Yemen. Well above 12,000, including many women and children, have been killed in Saudi airstrikes while millions remain displaced in a dire humanitarian situation.
The military intervention was launched in March 2015 as part of a Saudi plan to reinstate a former president and crush the Houthi movement.
Rights groups and governments have repeatedly lambasted Saudi Arabia for its indiscriminate targeting of civilians in Yemen, saying many of those killed in the airstrikes are ordinary people with no links to groups opposed to Riyadh.
They have documented numerous cases where Saudi warplanes have deliberately dropped bombs on public gatherings, including on weddings. Riyadh simply ignores any criticism after such attacks and calls them a mistake.