1,000 Killed, 5,000 İnjured By Houthis: Yemen Official

More than 1,000 people have been killed and 5,000 injured by Houthi gunfire over the course of the last month, a Yemeni government minister said Monday.



Speaking at a press conference in Saudi capital Riyadh, Yemeni Human Rights Minister Ezzeddin al-Asbahi said his government was drawing up a list of those involved in what he described as "Houthi crimes."



"We will take this list to the International Criminal Court (ICC)," he asserted.



A government-appointed relief committee, meanwhile, declared Yemen's Aden, Ad Dali and Taizz provinces "afflicted cities" after they were subject to shelling by Houthi forces.



Earlier Monday, a Yemeni NGO said that 3,512 people had been killed in a Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen's Shiite Houthi group.



The Freedom House for Anti-Corruption and Defense of Rights and Freedoms said that 492 children and 209 women had been among those killed by the Saudi-led offensive, Yemen's Houthi-held news agency reported.



Yemen has remained in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a popular uprising forced autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down one year later.



One month ago, Saudi Arabia – along with several other Arab states – launched an air campaign against Houthi targets in Yemen.



Riyadh says the strikes are in response to appeals by embattled Yemeni President ABD Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for help against the Houthis, who overran capital Sanaa late last year before advancing on other provinces.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Sana