Africans in search of a better future became the latest casualties of Yemen's decade-long conflict after a deadly strike blamed on the United States hit a migrant detention center, killing dozens of them..
The pre-dawn attack on Monday killed scores of them in their sleep, the country's Houthi rebels said, attributing the raid to the US military.
In a nearby hospital, emaciated African men were recovering from their wounds after surviving the attack that tore their friends to pieces.
"The planes struck close by twice. The third time they hit us," said Abed Ibrahim Saleh, 34, a soft-spoken Ethiopian whose head and leg were wrapped in white gauze.
"Dead bodies ripped apart, I can't describe what I saw... A hand here, a leg there. I don't want to remember," he said with a blank stare.
Since mid-March, Washington has conducted near-daily air strikes on the Iran-backed Huthi rebels military sites in a bid to stop their campaign of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but have resumed and intensified under his successor Donald Trump.
The tragedy brought back memories of a March 2021 blaze at a Sanaa migrants detention center, under Houthis’ control, that killed 45 people and was sparked by teargas canisters fired by Houthis responding to a protest.
Each year, tens of thousands of migrants cross the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa. Many hope for employment in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, though they first face a perilous journey through war-torn Yemen.
The United Nations expressed deep concern at Monday's strike, while Niku Jafarnia of Human Rights Watch said US attacks "are appearing to kill and injure civilians in Yemen at an alarming rate over the past month".
"Failing to take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law," HRW said