Two landmines laid by the Houthi militias at public roads killed five Yemeni children in Hodeidah and Lahij on Tuesday and Wednesday, local and medical sources reported according to aawsat.com.
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that three sisters under the age of ten died in one of the blasts. Their father works for the Houthi group in return for food aid and a maximum salary of YER30,000 (around SAR500), the sources added.
The incident occurred only one day after two children were killed in al-Durayhimi district, south of the port city of Hodeidah, after a bomb, planted by the pro-Iran group to obstruct the advance of government forces, went off.
Medical sources revealed that the two boys were brothers under the age of 10 and were on their way to get water for their family.
Days earlier, another landmine killed four farmers and wounded four others in Mocha, despite relentless efforts by the Yemeni Army and the Arab Coalition to clear thousands of landmines during the past year in western coastal areas.
Landmines scattered by the Houthi rebels are largely unmapped and will remain a threat in Yemen.
More than 3,000 people – most of them children and women – have been killed and injured by Houthi landmines, according to rights reports. In the first half of 2018 alone, landmines killed around 120 civilians.
In mid-2018, Saudi Arabia launched the USD40 million MASAM project for landmine clearance in Yemen. The project is funded by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief).
