Doctors Without Borders pull staff after Yemen airstrikes

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has decided to evacuate its staff from six hospitals in Yemen after the latest Saudi-led air attack on its health facility, the group said.

The MSF is evacuating its obstetricians, pediatricians, surgeons and emergency room specialists from six Saada and Hajjah hospitals in northern Yemen, the international medical aid group tweeted on Thursday.

"MSF is neither satisfied nor reassured by the Saudi-led coalition's (SLC's) statement that this attack was a mistake," Xinhua news agency quoted MSF as saying, referring to Monday's aerial bombing of Abs hospital in Hajjah governorate that killed at least 20 patients, including an MSF staff member.

Since the SLC intervened in Yemen conflict in March 2015, allied air strikes and fighting on the ground have killed over 6,400 persons, mostly civilians. The attack on Monday was the fourth against MSF-run hospitals in northern Yemen.

Ninety-five air strikes were conducted in the last 24 hours throughout Yemen's northern cities, including the capital Sanaa, causing substantial residential and public property damage, said the Houthi-controlled official Saba news agency.

The SLC supports the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against dominant Shia Houthi rebels, who are backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The coalition escalated its bombing campaign since United Nations-sponsored peace talks between Yemeni rival parties in Kuwait collapsed more than a week ago.

--IANS

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