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US calls for probe of bombing of hospital in Yemen

March 28, 2019 at 11:44 pm

SADAH, YEMEN – JUNE 15: A Wounded civilian receives emergency medical treatment at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Sadah. The Arab coalition has been carrying out air strikes on a daily basis in Yemen’s Sadah, a bastion of Houthi rebels, and warned all civilians to leave the restive province after declaring the entire territory a “military target”. June 15, 2015. (Photo by Sebastiano Tomada/Getty Images)

A US State Department spokesman on Thursday called the bombing earlier this week of a Save the Children-supported hospital in Yemen “awful” and urged the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen to conduct an investigation, Reuters reports.

“I saw those reports, they’re awful. The United States takes them seriously and we’re seeking more information,” spokesman Robert Palladino told a media briefing.

“We understand that the Saudi-led coalition has referred the results of this targeting operation to the joint incidents assessment team for their review and their investigation,” he said. “The United States urges a transparent investigation,” Palladino said.

Save the Children said a missile on Tuesday struck a gas station near the entrance to a rural hospital it supports in the northwestern part of the country, about 60 miles (100 km) from the city of Saada.

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The 9:30 a.m. strike killed seven people, including four children, the organization said in a statement. Among the dead were a health worker and the person’s two children, as well as two other children and a security guard. Eight people also were wounded, it said.

Palladino said the United States was pushing all sides in the conflict to take steps to avoid actions that endanger civilians and civilian infrastructure.

“The United States urges a transparent investigation by the joint incidents assessment team into these alleged incidents as well as swift implementation of the resulting recommendations,” he added.