Bomb that killed 40 Yemeni children supplied by US: Report
The bomb that killed 40 children and 11 others in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in Yemen was sold by the US under a State Department deal with Saudi Arabia. The numbers on shrapnel, of which images were taken shortly after the attack, indicate that it was a laser-guided Mk 82 bomb manufactured by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, CNN said yesterday.
Obama had banned the weaponry but Trump overturned the ban
Former US President Barack Obama banned the sale of precision-guided weaponry to Saudi after it used a similar bomb in an Oct'16 attack that killed 140 people at a funeral in Sana'a (Yemen). But President Donald Trump overturned that ban after taking office in 2017.
Groups are skeptical of Saudi-led coalition's internal inquiry
Fifty-six children were also among the 79 people wounded in the August 9 strike on Saada province, a rebel stronghold that borders Saudi Arabia, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The coalition has promised an internal inquiry but analysts and aid groups have voiced doubt that it is ready to provide the transparency and accountability demanded by the wider international community.
Conflict has killed 10,000 people so far since 2015
The Saudi-led coalition had intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government to power and push back the Houthis, an Islamic religious-political-armed movement, who still hold Yemen's capital Sana'a. The conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people since then, a majority of them civilians. Coalition commanders have admitted a small number of mistakes, but no public disciplinary action has been taken.
