A top United Nations official in Yemen said on Monday that a total of 201 children have been killed in the Yemeni ongoing civil war since the beginning of 2017.
“In 2017, 201 children have been killed in Yemen: 152 boys and 49 girls,” UNICEF resident representative in Yemen Meritxell Relano said in her twitter account on Monday, Xinhua reported.
Relano’s remarks came three days after an airstrike by a Saudi-led coalition hit a family’s home in Mahdha area in the Yemeni northern province of Saada, killing six children and three women.
Commenting on Friday’s airstrike, Relano condemned the attack but did not accuse any party behind it.
Relano also said that “377 boys have been recruited and used in the conflict since the start of 2017. We know there are many more…unfortunately.”
Relano did not provide further details about which cities the children were recruited from nor parties behind the recruitment.
According to UN agencies, more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed during more than two years of war in Yemen that also displaced over 3 million.
In March 2017, UNICEF put the death toll of children from the war at 1,546, and other 2,450 injured. The country has also been hit by a deadly cholera outbreak and is on the edge of famine.
The war started in March 2015, after Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict by launching a large-scale air campaign to back internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Iranian-backed Houthis group, who invaded the capital Sana’a militarily and seized most of the northern Yemeni provinces.
