SANAA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 people were killed and eight others wounded in an attack on a crowded market in Yemen's southwestern Taiz province on Friday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported, as the country's government and Houthi group traded accusations over responsibility.
The channel said three Saudi airstrikes hit Al-Hadarah public market in Taiz's Al-Wazi'iyah district in the morning, when it was crowded with shoppers. The casualty toll remained preliminary as rescue teams continued searching through the rubble, it added.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea accused Saudi warplanes of carrying out the attack, warning that what he described as a "massacre" would not go unanswered.
However, local authorities in Taiz, affiliated with Yemen's internationally recognized government, blamed the Houthis for the attack, according to the government-run Saba news agency.
In a statement, the authorities denied that any airstrikes had been conducted in Al-Wazi'iyah district on Friday, accusing the Houthis of endangering populated areas through indiscriminate missile attacks. They called for an independent technical investigation to determine responsibility.
Separately, Sarea said in a statement posted on social media platform X that Saudi warplanes and missiles had launched 67 strikes across five Yemeni provinces over the past 24 hours.
The deadly incident comes amid intensifying fighting between the Houthis and government forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition, alongside airstrikes across Yemen and Houthi missile and drone attacks inside Saudi Arabia.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in 2015 in support of the government.■
