11 killed in airstrike at wedding party in Yemen
Sanaa, July 4 : An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a wedding party in Yemen's northern province of Saada on Tuesday, Killing 11 civilians and wounding 11 others, a local security official said.
The airstrike targeted the wedding ceremony in Ghafirah village of al-Thahir district, the official said, speaking to Xinhua by phone on condition of anonymity. He said most of the victims were women and children.
There is no independent confirmation of the alleged airstrike and the civilian casualties, while the Saudi-led coalition has not commented on it.
The coalition always denies targeting civilians, insisting that its airstrikes only aim at the rebels' hideouts. Saada is the key stronghold of the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels fighting the Saudi-led coalition forces.
If confirmed, the Tuesday's attack was the latest in a series of airstrikes that resulted in the deaths of civilians in Yemen.
On Monday, a coalition airstrike hit near a school in Zabid district in Yemen's western Red Sea port city of Hodeidah province, Killing three residents and injuring four others, according to official reports by both warring forces.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since the Houthi rebels overran much of Yemen militarily and seized all northern provinces in 2014, including the capital Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that has intervened in the Yemen war since 2015 to support the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
More than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, and about 3 million others have been displaced.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
