15 October 2016•Update: 17 October 2016
By Ahmed al-Masri
SANAA
An inquiry team has blamed “incorrect information” for last week’s airstrike on a funeral gathering in Yemeni capital Sanaa, which left more than 100 people dead.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition, which is battling Yemen’s Shia Houthi group, has been under fire over the Oct. 8 airstrike, which also injured hundreds of people.
The joint team of coalition and American investigators said in a statement the airstrike was triggered by “incorrect information” passed on by the Yemeni command of the General Chief of Staff about a gathering of armed Houthi leaders in a particular place in Sanaa.
It said the coalition’s Air Operations Centre also failed to obtain approval for the strike from commanders, a violation of protocol, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The investigative team called for taking an appropriate action against those who caused the airstrike and for compensating families of the victims.
It went on to call for a view of the coalition’s rules of engagement.
Yemen has been racked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.
In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.
