Thousands attend funerals of children killed in Yemen bus attack

Thousands of people have gathered in Yemen‘s war-ravaged city of Saada for the funerals of 51 people, including 40 children, who were killed in air strikes by a Saudi-UAE military alliance, backed by the US.

Scores of cars covered in green, which is a hugely symbolic colour in Islam, transported the victims’ coffins from a hospital morgue to a large square for funeral prayers on Monday, in a ceremony which was attended by Yemenis from both the Sunni and majority Zaydi-Shia communities.

The funerals were supposed to take place on Saturday – in Islam, the dead should be buried as soon as possible. However, the Houthis, who control Saada province and large parts of north Yemen, said such gatherings could be targeted by more coalition air raids.

Mourners carried pictures of those killed, while Al-Masirah, pro-Houthi TV network, broadcast images of 29 small graves being dug at a cemetery where the children were to be buried. 

“My son went to the market to run house errands and then the enemy air strike happened and he was hit by shrapnel and died,” said Fares al-Razhi, mourning his 14-year-old son.

“For my son, I will take revenge on Salman and Mohammed Bin Zayed,” he said, referring to the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

With logistical support from the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have carried out attacks in Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to reinstate the internationally recognised government of President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

In 2014, Hadi and his forces were overrun by Houthi rebels who took over much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Since then, the military alliance has carried out more than 16,000 air raids on Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, with more than 3,000 raids pulverising the Houthi stronghold of Saada.

‘Tragic day’

Speaking from Sanaa, Hakim Almasmari, the editor-in-chief of the Yemen Post, called it one of the worst days in Yemen in recent memory.

“Today is a tragic, sad day … that has gathered all Yemenis together.

“There are many people who oppose the Houthis, including residents of [the capital] Sanaa, but a crime like this has given the Houthis more support.

“You can’t have sides when it comes to children.”

Images and footage from Thursday’s attack provoked international condemnation after showing young survivors covered in blood and reeling from shock.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a “independent and prompt” probe into the incident.

While, Geert Cappelaere, the regional director in the Middle East and North Africa at UNICEF, said there was “no excuse” for the continued complacency towards the three-year war in Yemen.

The Saudi-UAE military confirmed carrying out air strikes on Saada at the time of the school bus attack, saying it had launched a “legitimate military operation” in response to Houthi missile fire into southern Saudi Arabia the previous day.

The alliance has said it will investigate the incident, but previous investigations have seen them absolve themselves of any real responsibility and instead pin the blame on the Houthis.

Some families are still searching the wreckage for their loved ones’ remains [Kareem al-Mrrany/AP]

Days later, body parts remain unidentified and some families were still searching for the remains of their children. 

Abdelhakim Amir searched the wreckage of the burned-out bus in the hope of finding some sign of his son, Ahmed.

“I just found some of what the child was wearing,” he said.

“I didn’t find any of his remains, not his finger, not his bone, not his skull, nothing. I looked through all the remains in the hospital and I didn’t see anything.”

The children were returning from a school summer camp early on Thursday when the bus was hit as it travelled through a busy market. 

According to Johannes Bruwer of the International Committee of the Red Cross, at least 51 people were killed in the attack, 40 of them children; and more than 79 were wounded, 56 of them under the age of 15.

US-bomb used?

Images sent to Al Jazeera by the Houthis suggested a Raytheon Mark-82 bomb was used by the Saudi-UAE alliance.

While the photo had yet to be independently verified, fragments of Mark-82 bombs have surfaced repeatedly amid the ongoing Yemen bombing campaign.

The 500-pound bomb was used in a 2016 strike on a community hall hosting a funeral. At least 140 people were killed in that attack.

The US is a major supplier of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, with more than $90bn of sales recorded between 2010 and 2015.

At least 10,000 people have been killed in the war. However, this death toll has not been updated in years and is certain to be much higher.

In June, Saudi and UAE forces carried out 258 air raids on Yemen, nearly one-third of which targeted non-military sites. 

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, recently announced plans for negotiations between the warring parties.

The peace talks will begin in Geneva on September 6 and focus on building a transitional government and laying down arms.