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Saudi Attack on Mourners in Yemen Kills More Than 140

In a strongly worded rebuke, the White House said it may consider cutting its support to the Saudi-led campaign.

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Saudi-led warplanes struck a funeral at a community hall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the country's Houthi-run administration said on Saturday, but the coalition denied any role in the attack. More than 140 mourners were killed, according to local health officials cited by the United Nations, in an attack that prompted a strong rebuke from Washington, a key Saudi ally.

Jamie McGoldrick, a UN official in charge of humanitarian efforts in the country, said more than 525 were injured.

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The death toll was 82, according to Ghazi Ismail, the administration's acting health minister. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers was not immediately clear.

Ismail said the air strike occurred in the southern part of the city, where a wake was taking place for the father of the administration's interior minister, Jalal al-Roweishan, who had died of natural causes on Friday.

The death toll was one of the largest in any single incident since the Saudi-led alliance began military operations to try to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power following his ousting by the Iran-aligned Houthis in March 2015.

In a strongly worded rebuke, the White House said it may consider cutting its support to the Saudi-led military campaign.

"U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check," said U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price in a statement. "In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led coalition.

Iran, Saudi Arabia's main regional rival, described the attack as "a horrific and inhuman crime", and called for the resumption of peace talks among all Yemeni parties.

To resolve the crisis in Yemen there is no solution but the end of aggression by the brutish Saudi rulers and start of new round of talks that includes all Yemeni sides.
Bahram Qasemi, spokesman, Foreign Ministry, Iran.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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Topics:  Yemen   Saudi Arabia   Airstrike 

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