US-supplied bombs kill many Yemeni children
(Baonghean.vn) - CNN news agency reported on August 17 that the bomb used in the Saudi-led coalition airstrike that hit a bus in Saada province, northern Yemen, killing 40 children and 11 others, was sold by Washington to Riyadh under an agreement between the US State Department and Saudi Arabia.
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| Graves prepared for victims of airstrikes in Yemen. Photo: AP |
CNN quoted many weapons experts as saying that many bomb fragments, which were photographed immediately after the attack on August 9, showed that this was a laser-guided Mk 82 bomb, manufactured by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
Former President Barack Obama banned the sale of precision-guided weapons to Saudi Arabia after the Middle Eastern country used a similar bomb in an attack that killed 140 people at a funeral in the rebel-held capital Sanaa in October 2016.
However, President Donald Trump lifted the ban after he took office in 2017.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the August 9 airstrike on Saada province, a stronghold of Houthi rebels in Yemen, bordering Saudi Arabia, 56 children were among the 79 people injured.
The coalition has pledged to launch an internal investigation, but analysts and aid groups have expressed skepticism about its willingness to conduct a transparent investigation as demanded by the international community.
The attack is part of the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The conflict in Yemen has claimed the lives of nearly 10,000 people since the Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in Yemen in March 2015./.
