Thirty killed in attack on Yemen market as Saudis and Houthis trade blame

Thirty people have been killed in an attack on a market in a town in Taiz, a province in southwestern Yemen. The Houthi group, which controls half of Yemen, has blamed the air force of Saudi Arabia for the attack.

On the other hand, the Presidential Council government, which controls the other half of Yemen, and the Taiz provincial authorities who support that government, have said it was not a Saudi air strike. According to them, the Houthis fired a missile at the market, and those 30 people were killed in that attack.

The market that was attacked is located in the town of al-Waziya in Taiz. The town is under the control of the Houthis, the Iran-backed Yemeni group.

Since last September, the Iran-backed group has launched a large-scale military offensive to take control of all of Yemen. A counter-offensive is being carried out by the Presidential Council government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia and internationally recognised, and which currently controls the south of Yemen. Taiz province has become the focal point of this intense fighting between the two sides.

Anis al-Asbahi, spokesman for the health ministry of the Houthi government, which currently controls northern Yemen and the capital Sanaa, told the group's own news agency Saba after Friday's attack that Saudi enemy aircraft had carried out several attacks on the market in al-Waziya town.

A statement from the health ministry said 30 people were killed and eight injured in the attack. Rescue teams are searching for bodies under the rubble, so the death toll may rise further.

Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the attack was carried out on Friday by an aircraft that took off from the Khamis Mushait base in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the army of Yemen's Presidential government has accused the Houthis of firing a ballistic missile at the market and condemned it as a war crime. The Taiz provincial government also said in a statement that the Houthis had carried out an indiscriminate missile attack, and it rejected any information about an air strike on the market.

After a relatively calm period, war resumed in July between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, opening a new front in the Middle East conflict.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has regularly bombed Houthi positions. On the other hand, the Houthi group has also increased the scale of its attacks on oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

Earlier on Friday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had shot down a drone near Mecca, the holy city for Muslims. However, it did not say where the drone had come from. The Houthis have claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Saudi airports, oil installations and military bases, but they regularly deny targeting the holy cities.

On Thursday, the Saudi-Yemen military coalition said it had intercepted a Houthi missile near Medina, the second holiest city for Muslims. The Houthi group, however, dismissed the claim as slander.