Yemen's Houthis Say 30 Dead In Saudi Strikes On Market

Yemen's Houthis said Saudi airstrikes killed 30 people at a market on Friday, while local authorities accused the Iran-backed group of carrying out the attack.

The Houthis said "several strikes" hit the market in an area under their control in Taiz province, the scene of fierce fighting since the Iran-backed group launched a major offensive in September.

"Saudi enemy aircraft targeted the market in Al-Waziya city with several strikes," the Houthis' health ministry spokesman Anis al-Asbahi said in remarks carried by their Saba news agency.

A health ministry statement said 30 people were killed and eight wounded, adding that rescue teams were searching for bodies under the rubble.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the strikes were fired from a plane that took off from the Saudi base of Khamis Mushait on Friday. 

But Yemen's government forces accused the Houthis of firing a ballistic missile at the market, condemning it as a "war crime".

Authorities in Taiz also issued a statement blaming "indiscriminate Houthi missile fire", denying any air raids took place.

Yemen slipped back into war between the Iran-allied Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in July after years of relative calm, opening a new front in the conflict in the Middle East.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has regularly bombed Houthi positions, while the group has multiplied its attacks against the oil-rich kingdom.

Earlier on Friday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it intercepted a drone in the region of Mecca, Islam's holy city, without specifying where it came from. 

The Houthis have claimed responsibility for numerous strikes on Saudi airports, oil facilities and military sites, but they regularly deny targeting the holy cities. 

On Thursday, the coalition reported intercepting a Houthi missile around Medina, another sacred city, a claim the group dismissed as "slander".

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