A rocket fired by Iran-backed rebels in Yemen on Tuesday killed seven children in a residential neighborhood of Marib city, east of the capital, officials said.
The rocket hit a courtyard where the children were playing, said Abdel Ghani Shaalan, Marib’s deputy regional director of security.
Two other rockets hit a house and a shop front, wounding 25 civilians including women and children, he told AFP.
The toll was confirmed by Saleh Al-Shaddadi, the director of Marib’s main hospital, where casualties were admitted.
The Iran-backed Houthis launched the Katyusha rockets from Mount Haylan, 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Marib, Shaalan said.
Marib city and the majority of the surrounding province are held by government forces who are fighting the Shiite rebels who control areas to the north and west of the oil-rich region.
The attack in Marib came as UN-recognized government of President Abedrabo Abdul Hadi and Houthi negotiators take a break from peace talks after two months of UN-backed negotiations that have made little progress.
The talks are due to resume on July 15 in Kuwait.
The conflict in Yemen has killed more than 6,400 people dead and wounded 30,000 since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015.
Saudi Arabia aims to restore exiled President Hadi to power and assert government control over large parts of the country that had been taken over by the Houthis in 2014.

Source: Arab News