Aden :In a heartbreaking incident in Yemen’s war-ravaged Taiz province, five children were killed when an explosive device detonated while they were playing soccer in a residential area. The tragedy occurred on Friday night in the Al-Hashmah subdistrict, with rights groups and local eyewitnesses reporting the blast, as per a report by the AP News.
While the exact cause of the explosion remains unclear, the Yemen Centre for Human Rights and Eye of Humanity, along with Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV, blamed militias backed by the Islah party. The Islah party is aligned with the internationally recognized government in southern Yemen.
Two eyewitnesses, Ahmed al-Sharee and Khaled al-Areki, told the Associated Press that the children were playing when the blast occurred. Three other individuals sustained minor to moderate injuries and were hospitalized.
Another local witness, Mahmoud al-Mansi, claimed the shell was launched from an area where Islah-aligned forces were stationed. The Yemen Centre for Human Rights released a report with graphic images of the victims, stating that the children succumbed to shrapnel wounds. According to medical staff at Al-Rafai Hospital, two of the deceased were 12 years old and two were 14. The age of the fifth victim remains unknown.
The city of Taiz has been a major front in Yemen’s prolonged civil war, with ongoing clashes between Iran-backed Houthi forces and militias supported by the Islah party and other factions. Since 2016, the city had been under a blockade imposed by the Houthis, restricting movement and access to essential goods. However, the Houthis recently reopened key roads into the city.
Yemen’s civil war erupted in 2014 after Houthi rebels captured the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, intervened in 2015 in an attempt to restore the ousted government. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council now controls much of southern Yemen and is pushing for southern independence, adding further complexity to the conflict.
The tragic deaths of the five children have once again drawn international attention to the devastating impact of Yemen’s ongoing war on its civilian population, especially its children.
