At least 20 Indian nationals were feared killed by Saudi-led coalition air strikes on fuel smugglers at Yemen's Hodeidah port on Tuesday, residents and fishermen said. Indian Ministry of External Affairs said they are verifying the reports.
Reports said two boats were hit in the attack on an area called al-Khokha near Hodeidah port.
In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said it has no information about the reports that 20 Indians have been killed in Saudi-led strikes in Yemen. "We are ascertaining the facts about the reports," MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup said when asked about reports that 20 Indians had been killed in Saudi-led strikes in Yemen.
India does not have Embassy in Yemen, which was shut down in April after evacuation of its nationals.
Independent Yemeni security officials and witnesses said 12 Shiite rebels were killed in air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in the province of Marib, where a rebel missile strike killed 45 Emirati soldiers earlier this week. Officials from the rebel group, known as Houthis, confirmed more than 20 air strikes occurred today.
Neither side has captured more territory, as pro-government forces say they plan to seize the rest of the province before proceeding to Jawf, and eventually to Saada province, the Houthi heartland. Human rights group Amnesty International said in a report this month that the coalition bombing campaign had left a "bloody trail of civilian death" which could amount to war crimes.
More than 4,300 people have been killed in five months of war in Yemen while disease and suffering in the already impoverished country have spread.
