Saudi-led air strikes kill 100 in Yemen ahead of five-day truce

Sana'a: At least 100 people were killed as Saudi-led coalition forces intensified air bombings on missiles warehouse and arms depots in Yemen's capital Sana'a, medics said on Tuesday, hours before a planned five-day ceasefire for humanitarian purposes.

"The latest reports show that up to 100 people were killed while nearly 300 others injured due to Monday's massive blasts caused by the Saudi-led airstrikes on arms depots," directors of four major hospitals in Sana'a confirmed to Xinhua.

"Hundreds of injured people have been taken to different hospitals in Sana'a. The number of casualties may rise as many injured were in critical condition with no sufficient medical care due to shortages of medicines," said Tamim, a senior medical official.

Yemen's official Saba News Agency, controlled by the Shia Houthi group, confirmed Monday's toll in a brief text message.

On Monday evening, the Saudi-led coalition attacked a missile warehouse in Nuqom Mountain in eastern parts of Sanaa, causing a series of intensive explosions that badly damaged nearby houses and forced thousands of families to flee their homes located there.

The Houthi group, backed by army units, and tribal militia loyal to Yemeni President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who have been battling over the control of several Yemeni cities for the past six weeks, have all pledged to respect the truce in order to allow needed humanitarian aid to reach besieged civilians inside the conflict-battered country.

However, warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition continued airstrikes against several military bases controlled by Houthis around Sanaa and other provinces on Tuesday, hours before a planned five-day cease-fire for humanitarian purposes is due to come into effect.

In the northern province of Saada, the main stronghold of Houthis, more than seven Saudi-led airstrikes targeted houses of some mid-level commanders of the group, with no immediate reports of casualties.

Conflict and armed confrontations between Houthi gunmen and pro-Hadi militiamen escalated in many battlefields in Aden's southern port city of Aden in an apparent attempt to seize more sites on ground before the start of a planned five-day humanitarian pause.

Saudi Arabia, along with eight other Arab states, have been bombing the Houthi group and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26, aiming to reinstate the government of Hadi, who was forced to flee the country.