A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saturday killed at least 17 people in a government-held city, including a 5-year-old girl, officials said, as a U.S. envoy to the country accused the rebels of failing to try to reach peace in the war-wrecked nation.
The missile hit a gas station in the Rawdha neighborhood in the central city of Marib, according to Ali al-Ghulisi, the provincial governor’s press secretary.
Information Minister Moammar al-Iryani said the attack killed at least 17 people and wounded at least five others. All casualties were civilians, he added.
He called on the U.N. and the U.S. to condemn the attack, saying it amounted to a war crime.
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.
The government-run SABA news agency reported that the rebels also fired an explosive-laden drone shortly after the missile attack. It said the drone destroyed two ambulances that had rushed to the area to transfer wounded to hospitals.
