At least 68 African migrants were killed and 47 others wounded after an alleged U.S. airstrike hit a detention facility in Saada governorate, northern Yemen, on Monday, according to the Iran-aligned Houthi authorities. The U.S. military has not issued an immediate comment on the incident. The Houthis’ Interior Ministry reported that 115 migrants, primarily from Ethiopia, were being held at the site when the attack occurred. Civil Defense officials confirmed the casualty figures, calling the incident one of the deadliest in recent months involving migrants trapped in Yemen’s conflict.
Graphic footage broadcast by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite channel showed the grim aftermath: lifeless bodies, wounded survivors, and medical teams tending to the injured amid wreckage. Analysis of the footage by the Associated Press (AP) indicated that an explosion had shattered parts of the detention center, with debris scattered across the compound and significant blast damage visible.
In the background of the footage, a woman’s soft voice can be heard reciting a Muslim prayer, while gunfire echoes sporadically as rescue efforts continued. The attack highlights the perilous situation faced by African migrants, mostly from Ethiopia and Somalia, who cross war-ravaged Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work. Migrants often fall prey to smugglers linked to Houthi networks, reportedly generating tens of thousands of dollars weekly by trafficking people across the border.
Migrants have been caught in the crossfire of Yemen’s decade-long civil war, facing detention, abuse, and death. In 2022, a United Nations letter accused Saudi security forces of killing up to 430 migrants and injuring 650 others through alleged artillery shelling and gunfire along the Yemeni-Saudi border. Saudi authorities have denied these allegations.
The latest incident raises fresh concerns about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the fate of vulnerable migrant populations caught between warring factions and geopolitical tensions. International rights groups have called for independent investigations into migrant abuses across the region.
