An air attack on a hotel near the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has killed at least 35 people, according to a local medic.
Physician Ali al-Rakmi who was helping at the site of Wednesday’s strike in Arhab town’s Qaa al-Qaidhi district, said there were more than 100 people inside at the time of the attack, all farmers who work in growing qat —a plant widely used for a stimulant effect, Al Jazeera reported.
At least 35 bodies were retrieved so far, he said.
Fahd Marhab, head of the Umrah hospital about 10km from the site, said there was no wounded and that all the people in the hotel were killed in the air raid.
Almaseera, a television channel run by the country’s Houthis, who control Sanaa, blamed the Saudi-led military coalition allied with the Yemeni government for the attack on Wednesday.
It said 41 civilians were killed and that the death toll was expected to rise further.
Officials and witnesses told the Associated Press news agency that the death toll had reached 60 and that the majority of those killed were Houthis.
Reuters news agency reported that a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition was not immediately available.
Hakim Al Masmari, a journalist with the Yemen Post, told Al Jazeera from Sanaa that air raids hit several areas of the city.
“It is probably the biggest massacre Yemen has witnessed by the Saudi-led coalition,” Al Masmari told Al Jazeera by phone.
“The airstrike targeted a motel early this morning. It was part of at least 25 airstrikes that targeted Sanaa and the outskirts of the city since midnight. The air strikes attacked every part of Sanaa. It was a deadly night,” he added.
More than 10,000 people have been killed and three million displaced from their homes since February 2014, according to the UN.
