At least six people were killed and eight others wounded in Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen’s strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha, a Houthi-affiliated news agency reported Tuesday, amid escalating fighting across the country’s western coast.
Two children and a woman were among the civilians killed, according to the Saba news agency. It said a child and a woman were among the injured.
“Six civilians, including two children and a woman, were killed and eight others, including a child and a woman, were injured in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Mokha,” Saba said, according to Agence France-Presse.
The report could not be verified by independent means.
The strikes came after rapid Houthi advances on Saudi-backed government forces that saw the rebels capture Mokha and other positions along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The Houthis, who hold sway over swathes of northern Yemen, have also struck at Saudi territory and energy sites, AFP reports.
The fighting has raised fears about the safety of strategic waterways used to ship oil and other goods. The war in Yemen started in 2014 when the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, and Saudi Arabia intervened the next year to back the internationally recognised government.
