The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it deplores Thursday's attack in Yemen, when a coalition air strike hit a bus carrying children in Dahyan market in Saada, reportedly killing 40 people and injuring another 60.
According to initial information the rights office has, at least 21 boys, most of them aged under 15, were among those killed and 35 others were injured, Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the office said a UN briefing here.
"These latest deaths come amid a recent spike in civilian casualties over the last week that tragically demonstrates how the conflict continues to blight the lives of Yemenis," she said.
The UN rights office said that between March 26, 2015, and Aug. 9, 2018, it has documented a total of 17,062 civilian casualties -- 6,592 dead and 10,470 injured.
The majority of these casualties -- 10,471 -- were as a result of airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led Coalition, said Throssell.
Concerning last week's attacks in the port city of Hudaydah, the rights office in Yemen has documented that at least 41 civilians, including six children and four women, were killed and 111 others injured, among them 19 children and three women.
At least three attacks hit the city, which is controlled by the Houthis on Aug. 2, with mortars landing in different locations in Al Hawak district.
These include Hudaydah fishing port where mortars struck the dock and hangar, at the time full of fishermen and street vendors.
"Shortly afterward, three mortars fired in quick succession hit Al-Thawra Hospital and its surroundings, also causing many civilian casualties," said Throssell.
The UN human rights office reminded the parties to the conflict that "hospitals must be respected and protected in all circumstances."
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015, after Houthis seized many populated cities in the north and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi along with his government into exile in Riyadh.
UN agencies reported that the war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced over 3 million others.
