GENEVA, Switzerland, April 10 (NNN-SABA) – Sunday’s explosion in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killed 14 children and critically injured 16 others, most of them aged under nine, a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson said, on Tuesday.
“This is what UNICEF was able to verify, with the actual number of children killed and injured likely to increase,” Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF Geneva spokesperson, said.
In Sanaa, the death toll from Sunday’s explosion increased to 15, including seven schoolgirls, while more than 100 others, mostly female students, were wounded.
Sunday’s explosion occurred in a warehouse, near two schools in Sawan quarter, the most densely populated neighbourhood, east of Sanaa.
“The critically injured children, many of whom are fighting for their lives, are now in hospitals in Sanaa,” Boulierac said, reading a statement from Geert Cappelaere, the agency’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
More than 400 children have been killed and seriously injured, since the beginning of 2019, including an attack in Hajjah, near the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, on March 9, in which 12 children were killed, according to UNICEF.
UNICEF said 2,672 have been killed and 4,371 injured in Yemen, since the conflict escalation in 2014.
Boulierac said, Monday’s blast is another reminder that even schools are not safe in Yemen. One in five schools can no longer be used, as a direct result of the conflict.
UNICEF said that, for more than two million children in Yemen today, going to school is a distant dream and that Monday’s blast, may further discourage parents from sending their children to school.– NNN-SABA
