By Aziz al-Ahmadi

SANA’A (AA): Yemen’s Houthi group said Wednesday nine civilians were killed and seven others injured in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the northern al-Jawf province.

The group’s website, citing a security source, said two women were among the victims, while five children were injured in the attack.

The source said the airstrike targeted civilian homes in al-Masafa area in the provincial capital al-Hazm.

Activist Omar al-Nomeim, from the Mwatana Organization for Human Rights in Jawf, told The Associated Press that the airstrike in Jawf hit civilian houses in the village and that most of the causalities were children and women.

The victims were celebrating the circumcision of a week-old boy, who was one of those killed in the attack, the ministry said. Youssef al-Hadri, a spokesman for the ministry, shared graphic photos showing wounded children on hospital beds with bandages on their bodies.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition.

On Monday, the United Nations condemned an airstrike in Hajjah province that killed seven children and two women.

In the statement, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, said it was “incomprehensible that in the middle of the COVID pandemic, when options for a cease-fire are on the table, civilians continue being killed in Yemen”.

However, Yemeni journalist Hussian Albukhaiti said that 20 civilians, including four women and seven children were killed in the bombings.

Yemen has been wracked by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crisis as millions are on the brink of starvation.

* Ibrahim Mukhtar contributed to this report from Ankara

Additional report by The Muslim News

[Photo: Protesters from a Black Lives Matter rally and Justice for Yemen demonstration gather together at Parliament Square in London, United Kingdom on July 5, 2020.  Photographer:  Isabel Infantes/AA]