Sanaa Stampede Kills 80 People, Injures Over 100 – Source

Smoke billows from buildings following a reported air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on October 5, 2016InternationalIndiaAfricaCAIRO (Sputnik) – Eighty people have been killed, and more than 100 have been injured in a stampede in the center of Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa, controlled by the Houthi rebel Ansar Allah movement, a local source told Sputnik on Wednesday. “The number of casualties of the stampede at an aid distribution center at the Main school in the Bab al-Yemen area in the east of the capital has risen to 80, including children, and 120 people have been injured,” the source said. The source said that 20 victims were in critical condition, adding that the number of casualties would increase in the nearest future. Sensitive footage shared on social media has offered additional insight into the crowd placement prior to the incident, as well as its aftermath.Witnesses have relayed to media outlets that the crush unfolded after firearms discharged by Houthi militants prompted an electrical wire to explode near the crowd. Reports have said two organizers have been taken into custody, and that an investigation remains underway.Earlier in the day, the source said that 10 people had been killed, and some 40 had been wounded in the stampede. He added the injured people had been taken to the nearest hospitals. The source has noted that this was the first such incident, adding that businesspersons have been distributing aid to the people in need at the same place for several weeks without any casualties. WorldYemeni Authorities, Houthis Reach Agreement on New Truce – Source6 April, 22:11 GMTMoreover, the press office of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council tweeted that Council Chairman Mahdi al-Mashat expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and ordered that a committee be established to investigate the incident. He also stressed the importance of taking the necessary measures to clarify the causes of the incident.Yemen has remained engulfed in an armed conflict between government forces and Houthi rebels since 2014, with tensions reaching a boiling point the following year after the Saudi-led coalition began launching operations against Houthi targets.An earlier estimate indicated that the number of displaced individuals within Yemen in areas controlled by Houthi forces has exceeded 6.4 million since 2015. Children amount to roughly 1 million of the internally displaced.

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