ICRC says over 100 people died in airstrikes on Yemen prison

SANAA - More than 100 people were killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on a prison in Yemen's central province of Dhamar, the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sanaa said on Sunday.

"The head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen Franz Rauchenstein believed that more than 100 people were killed in the airstrikes on the prison in Dhamar, but this is not the final number as rescue teams are still searching under rubble," the ICRC office told Xinhua by phone.

The Saudi-led coalition said its airstrikes early on Sunday on Dhamar targeted "a Houthi location for hostile air defense missiles and drone storages," Saudi-owned AL Arabiya television reported on Twitter.

But Houthi rebels said the airstrikes targeted the prison of detainees of over 170 government soldiers captured during battles in several front lines.

Houthis said the location of this prison is known by the ICRC and the Saudi-led coalition.

The ICRC head in Yemen twitted earlier on the day that his teams had visited the detainees in this prison before, as part of their regular humanitarian work.

Dhamar is about 100 km south of the capital Sanaa. Both Dhamar and Sanaa, as well as several other northern provinces have been under Houthi's control since late 2014 after they forced Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition against Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen for more than four years in support of the internationally-recognized government of Hadi.