UNICEF Says 24 Children Killed In Yemen Clashes Amid Political Crisis

SANAA, April 10 (Bernama) -- The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) office in Yemeni capital Sanaa, said Saturday that 24 children were killed and another 638 wounded during ongoing clashes between police and government supporters and anti-government protesters in Yemen.

"As many as 24 children were killed and 638 others were wounded during the prolonged political crisis from Feb 18 to April 5," UNICEF said in a statement obtained by China's Xinhua news agency.

It said that another 49 children were killed and 55 others were wounded at last month's explosion of the ammunition factory in Jaar city of the southern province of Abyan.

The casualties of the blast brought the death toll among children to 73, while 693 others injured in Yemen recently, the statement added.

In the statement, the UNICEF expressed its concern about escalating violence in Yemen, particularly with the high casualties in children, urging the government to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights law, whether Yemen was in a state of emergency or not.