Charity reveals 'scorched earth' Yemen images

Charity reveals 'scorched earth' Yemen images

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

Amnesty International has revealed a collection of images that it says show the scale of the devastation caused by Yemeni and Saudi Arabian aerial bombardments of the northern Yemeni region of Sa'dah.

The human rights organisation says the images were taken last month in and around the town of al-Nadir. It says they show buildings destroyed in the latest in a series of clashes between Yemeni forces and supporters of a Shia cleric.

Among the damaged or destroyed civilian buildings photographed are what it says are market places, mosques, petrol stations, small businesses, a primary school, a power plant, a health centre - and dozens of houses and residential buildings.

Amnesty International Middle East Deputy Director Philip Luther said: "This is a largely invisible conflict that has been waged behind closed doors. These images reveal the true scale and ferocity of the bombing and the impact it had on the civilians caught up in it. This information has only now come to light through Yemenis who fled the conflict and have reached other parts of the country."

International humanitarian law forbids the targeting of civilian objects during conflicts. Deliberate attacks would be war crimes.

The organisation says the bombardments came in the sixth round of fighting in the region since 2004 between Yemeni forces and the so-called Huthis - armed followers of a Hussain Badr al-Din al-Huthi, a Shi'a cleric from the Zaidi sect killed in September that year. Government restrictions on access to the region combined with landmines and other security concerns mean that no independent observers or media are believed to have visited the area in recent months.

a makeshift market


mosque destroyed by aerial bombardment


destroyed market. grafitti reads: What have markets done?