82 killed in Saudi-led coalition raid in Yemen

Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 82 people have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that targeted a funeral hall in the capital, Sanaa.

“Dozens fell as martyrs and hundreds were wounded in two air raids” carried out by coalition jets, the insurgent-controlled news site sabanews.net said.

Nasser al-Argaly, the health ministry’s undersecretary, says Saturday's strike also left 534 people wounded.

The officials say the dead and wounded include military and security officials from the ranks of the Shia Houthi rebels fighting the internationally-recognised government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi as well as their allies, loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The Saudi-led coalition backs Hadi’s government in Yemen’s ongoing civil war.

The Houthi rebels said people had gathered in southern Sanaa to pay their respects to the father of the rebel interior minister Jalal al-Rowaishan when the bombs hit, adding that the minister’s fate was unknown. Emergency workers were seen retrieving the charred remains of people from the collapsed building, as others scoured the wreckage in the search for survivors. Residents said ambulances were taking the wounded away and local hospitals had issued an appeal for blood donations.