A Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) clinic in Yemen was hit by a “projectile” on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding ten more in the blast, the humanitarian group announced.
“According to our staff on the ground, at 9.20am one projectile impacted the Shiara Hospital in Razeh district, where MSF has been working since November 2015,” said a statement from the group.
Although blame is being traded around for the shelling of the facility, “MSF cannot confirm the origin of the attack,” the memo added.
“The number of casualties could rise as there could still be people trapped in the rubble,” the statement said.
The facility has been entirely evacuated, and the patients are being transferred to another hospital in the area, according to reports.
Yemen has devolved into a full-scale civil war between Iran-backed Houthi Shiites and the forces backing the internationally recognized Sunni President, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. Hadi’s troops have received military support from Saudi Arabia, which has frequently launched air strikes against Houthi positions.
The stability vacuum in the country has also allowed for radical jihadi groups, such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), to continue their caliphatist ambitions relatively unchecked.
Doctors Without Borders reiterated that all sides know the GPS coordinates of their clinic.
“There is no way that anyone with the capacity to carry out an airstrike or launch a rocket would not have known that the Shiara Hospital was a functioning health facility providing critical services and supported by MSF,” said Raquel Ayora, MSF director of operations. “Bombing hospitals is a violation of international humanitarian law.
Over 5,800 people have been killed and 27,000 more wounded in Yemen since March, according to the United Nations.
Peace talks between the warring parties have been postponed until January 20 or 23, Foreign Minister Abdel Malak al-Mekhlafi told AFP.
In October, A U.S. air strike hit an MSF hospital in Afghanistan, killing 30 individuals, including a host of MSF staff. The United States has taken responsibility for the strike, claiming forces thought they were targeting a Taliban stronghold.