At least 19 civilians, including three children, have been killed in Yemen over the past two months, despite a nationwide ceasefire, a UN official has said.
The truce was the first tangible ebb in fighting in the past six years of the conflict. On Thursday, Yemen’s warring parties decided to renew the truce for another two months.
Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva that most of the deaths recorded since the truce first went into effect in early April were from land mines, “including improvised mines, and explosive remnants of war.”
However, she said three of the 19 killed from sniper fire in the Taiz and Al-Dale provinces. Two people were seriously wounded by snipers. Also, the agency documented the wounding of four civilians, one of them a girl, by a weaponized drone, reports Arab News.
Throssell also said that 32 civilians have been wounded during the two months of truce.
In a statement, the UN Security Council welcomed the extension of the truce in Yemen and “expressed hope that a strengthened truce could be translated into a durable ceasefire and an inclusive, comprehensive political settlement, under the auspices of the UN.—AFP
