Saudi Arabia used US cluster bombs in Yemen market attacks

(HRW) says Saudi Arabia used US-made cluster bombs in two recent airstrikes on a busy market in Yemen

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Saudi Arabia used US-made cluster bombs in two recent airstrikes on a busy market in Yemen, which killed scores of civilians.

The March 15 bombing targeting the northwestern town of Mastaba marked the second-deadliest airstrike conducted by the Saudi campaign since it began its war in March 2015.

The strike also wounded at least 47 people and left charred bodies lying next to flour sacks and twisted metal.

“One of the deadliest strikes against civilians in Yemen’s year-long war involved US-supplied weapons, illustrating tragically why countries should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia,” Priyanka Motaparthy, emergencies researcher at HRW, said.

Human Rights Watch said Thursday its investigators traveled to the town in Yemen’s Hajjah province the day after the attack and listed the names of 97 civilians killed in the strike, including 25 children.