SANAA: Warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition struck a house north of Yemen’s capital where a crowd of mourners was gathered, residents said on Thursday, killing nine women and a child and injuring dozens. The head of the Houthis' media office, Abdel-Rahman al-Ahnomi, told The Associated Press the first airstrike on Wednesday hit a group of women attending a funeral and a second hit first responders in Arhab, some 25 miles from Sanaa. Yemenis mourn over the body of a victim of an air raid that hit a funeral reception near Sanaa, on February 16, 2017 (AFP Photo/Mohammed HUWAIS)

Sanaa (AFP) - An air strike killed eight women and a child at a funeral reception near the Yemeni capital, witnesses said Thursday, adding to the conflict's mounting civilian death toll. Saudi-led coalition forces and their Yemeni allies fighting under the banner of President Mansour Hadi have captured several strategic ports on the Red Sea in recent weeks, and are vowing to try and pursue the largest prize, control over the Yemeni port of Hodeida. We are investigating the reports.”

In October the alliance of mainly Gulf Arab states was heavily criticised after launching an air strike on a funeral gathering in Sana’a that killed 140 people, according to one UN estimate. The White House said after the October funeral attack that it might consider cutting its support to the Saudi-led campaign, which has been providing air support for Mr Hadi’s forces in a civil war that has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced millions.
An air raid on a funeral in a village north of Sana'a kills at least eight women and children. The Houthis blames the Saudi-led coalition for the attack.