Mahmoud Barakat
24 January 2017•Update: 24 January 2017
By Shokri Hussein
ADEN, Yemen
Six Yemeni soldiers were killed late Monday when Saudi-led coalition warplanes mistakenly bombed a site in south-western Yemen, according to a local military source.
The strike targeted a mountainous area in district near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, the source said.
“Two soldiers were also injured in the attack,” the source added anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media.
The source attributed the erroneous airstrike to “lack of coordination” between government forces and the Saudi-led coalition.
There was no comment from the coalition on the attack.
On Monday, government forces took control of the southwestern Mocha city and its strategic port on Bab al-Mandab Strait after a two-week military campaign.
Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when Houthi rebels and their allies overran the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of the country.
The conflict escalated in mid-2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a major air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s embattled Saudi-backed government.
Two rounds of UN-backed peace talks have failed to resolve the conflict in which thousands of Yemenis are believed to have been killed and an estimated three million forced to flee their homes.
