SANAA, Yemen — Thunderous airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital, a Red Sea naval port and a border province Wednesday, killing at least 75 people and injuring more than 100 others, officials and residents said. It is believed to be the largest single-day death toll of the 2-month-old Saudi-led aerial offensive.
Terrified civilians cowered at home or rushed into the streets as massive secondary explosions rocked a residential neighborhood in the capital, Sanaa, following a hit on a special forces base known as the Central Security camp. Like many of the military installations and weapons caches targeted by weeks of airstrikes, the base lay close to densely populated civilian areas.
The force of the explosions blew out the windows in a nearby hospital, showering some patients with broken glass, residents said. One eyewitness, Saleh Dowed, blamed the size of the blasts on stored ordnance ignited by the airstrikes. “The fire was enormous,” he said.
The Health Ministry said at least 40 people died and scores more were hurt in the strikes in Sanaa, which was overrun months ago by Shiite Muslim Houthi rebels. The Saudi-led campaign has yet to drive the insurgents from the capital or from strongholds in the strategic city of Aden in the south.
