Saudi-led planes attack Yemen capital, six reported killed

[July 03, 2015]  SANAA (Reuters) - Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition bombed targets in the Yemeni capital on Friday, residents said, and sources in the country's dominant Houthi militia reported at least six people including a woman and child were killed.

Six people in Sanaa's al Jaraf neighborhood were wounded in the air raid, the Houthi sources added. The warplanes staged a further attack on the city around noon, but there was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

In the dawn attack, warplanes also hit the ministry of communications building, the Houthi-controled Saba news agency reported, setting it on fire and destroying nearby buildings.

They also bombed Faj Attan mountain overlooking Sanaa, home to a military base and a weapons depot that have been a frequent target of raids in the course of the three-month-old war.

The coalition has been bombarding the Iran-allied Houthi militia and allied army units since March in a campaign to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.

Hadi fled in February to Saudi Arabia, where he remains, after the Houthis swept out of their northwestern stronghold and captured Sanaa last September, pushing Hadi's government aside and then extending their control to large parts of Yemen.

Saba also reported mortar attacks by al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islah party against homes in the Hasb district of the southwestern province of Taiz. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department called for a "humanitarian pause" in the conflict during the current Muslim holy month of Ramadan to allow international aid organizations to deliver urgently needed food, medicine, and fuel.

The United Nations on Wednesday had designated the war in Yemen as a Level 3 humanitarian crisis, its most severe category.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by William Maclean/Mark Heinrich)

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