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Buthaina Muhammad Mansour survived the 25 August airstrike that killed her family.
Buthaina Muhammad Mansour survived the 25 August airstrike that killed her family. Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters
Buthaina Muhammad Mansour survived the 25 August airstrike that killed her family. Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

US-made bomb killed civilians in Yemen residential building, says Amnesty

This article is more than 6 years old

Human rights group condemns flow of arms from US, UK and France to Saudi Arabia-led military coalition and used in Yemen

A bomb that destroyed a residential building in Yemen’s capital last month, killing 16 civilians and injuring 17 more – including a five-year-old girl called Buthaina whose photograph went viral after the strike – was made in the US, Amnesty International has said.

The assessment was based on an examination of the remnants of the weapon used in the 25 August airstrike.

The Saudi Arabia-led military coalition admitted carrying out the attack, blaming civilian casualties on a “technical error”.

How did the conflict in Yemen begin?

The war in Yemen began in March 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched Operation Decisive Storm, but the prospect of conflict had been building for months. Yemenis overthrew longtime strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh in an uprising that began in 2011, but Saleh remained an influential figure operating behind the scenes. A failed transition sponsored by the US and Gulf states saw the rise of Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who became president after Saleh. Hadi was overthrown by the Houthis, Shia rebels from the north that the Saudis accused of receiving Iranian backing. Saudi Arabia sees the war as part of a regional struggle for power with its rival Iran.

Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, said: “We can now conclusively say that the bomb that killed Buthaina’s parents and siblings, and other civilians, was made in the USA.

“There simply is no explanation the USA or other countries such as the UK and France can give to justify the continued flow of weapons to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition for use in the conflict in Yemen. It has time and time again committed serious violations of international law, including war crimes, over the past 30 months, with devastating consequences for the civilian population.”

The controversy comes as some EU countries, in concert with Canada, again table a motion at the UN human rights council in Geneva calling for an independent UN inquiry into the conduct of the war, and human rights abuses committed by all sides in the conflict. A similar motion was put to the council in 2015 and 2016, and either rejected or water down.

The latest motion, due to be voted on next week, does not have the support of the Arab League or some key EU countries, including the UK, but it is known that Britain thinks diplomatic efforts to bring about peace in the two-year civil war in Yemen have reached a kind of deadlock, and need rethinking.

Earlier this month, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, called the humanitarian crisis in Yemen an “entirely man-made catastrophe”. He continued: “The reticence of the international community in demanding justice for the victims of the conflict in Yemen is shameful, and in many ways contributing to the continuing horror.”

On 19 September, the UK Ministry of Defence announced a new military and security cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. The defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, said the agreement “further cements the UK’s longstanding relationship with our key Gulf partner”.

Although the UK has expressed concern about the Saudi conduct of the war, the high court earlier this year found the UK government’s granting of arms sales licences to the British arms manufacturers selling to Saudi was lawful. British officials also believe the Saudis have been overall more sophisticated in their targeting, and more willing to admit mistakes following internal investigations.

The total number of civilian casualties in Yemen since March 2015 stands at 13,920, including 5,159 people killed and 8,761 injured.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Saudi-led airstrikes kill 68 civilians in one day of Yemen's 'absurd' war

  • Saudi Arabia agrees to re-open key Yemen port of Hodeidah

  • Saudi Arabia shoots down Houthi missile aimed at Riyadh palace

  • Houthis detain journalists linked to Saleh as airstrikes intensify over Yemen

  • Yemen Houthi rebels kill former president Ali Abdullah Saleh

  • Yemen's rebel alliance disintegrates as rivals fight for control of Sana'a

  • British risk complicity in Yemen 'famine crime', says Alex de Waal

  • May to demand Saudi Arabia ends blockade on Yemen's ports

  • Saudi Arabia still barring aid to Yemen despite pledge to lift siege

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