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Report: US Made, Sold Bomb That Killed Yemeni Children

by VOA News

   According to a CNN report, munitions experts say a U.S.-made bomb was
   used by the Saudi-led coalition in a recent airstrike in Yemen that hit
   a busload of children in a marketplace, killing 51 people, including 40
   children.

   CNN said Friday that the experts identified the bomb used in the attack
   from images taken of a piece of shrapnel shortly after the deadly
   strike.

   According to CNN, the numbers on the shrapnel indicated the explosive
   was a 227-kilogram, laser-guided MK 82 bomb manufactured by top U.S.
   defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

   Seventy-nine people were also wounded in the strike, including 56
   children.

   A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said earlier this month the
   airstrike targeted Houthi rebels in the market and conformed with
   international and humanitarian law.

   U.S. President Barack Obama banned the sale of precision-guided
   weaponry to Saudi Arabia in 2016 after Saudi Arabia used a similar bomb
   in another deadly attack.

   The Trump administration, however, overturned the ban last year.

   Liz Throssel, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
   Rights said after the August 9 airstrike that hit the bus that "any
   attack which directly targets civilians not directly taking part in
   hostilities or civilian objects amounts to a war crime."

   She said the perpetrators must be identified, brought to justice and
   held accountable no matter where, when, or by whom the violations or
   abuses were committed.