Washington—The bomb that killed 40 children and 11 others in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in rebel-held northern Yemen was sold by the United States under a State Department deal with Riyadh, CNN has reported.
The numbers on shrapnel, of which images were taken shortly after the attack this month, indicate that it was a laser-guided Mk 82 bomb manufactured by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, CNN said Friday, citing munitions experts.
Former president Barack Obama banned the sale of precision-guided weaponry to Saudi Arabia after it used a similar bomb in an October 2016 attack that killed 140 people at a funeral in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
But President Donald Trump overturned that ban after taking office in 2017.
Fifty-six children were also among the 79 people wounded in the August 9 strike on Saada province, a rebel stronghold that borders Saudi Arabia, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The coalition has promised an internal inquiry but analysts and aid groups have voiced doubt that it is ready to provide the transparency and accountability demanded by the wider international community.
It is part of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, a conflict that has killed nearly 10,000 people since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 as Huthi rebel fighters closed in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government.
Coalition commanders have admitted a small number of mistakes, but there has been no public disciplinary action or changes to the rules of engagement.
The commanders have accused rebels of using civilians as human shields.
On Friday, the United Nations invited Yemen’s government and Iran-backed Huthi rebels to Geneva, Switzerland next month for talks on resolving the country’s civil war.
“I can confirm that the Office of the Special Envoy sent out invitations to the government of Yemen and to Ansarullah,” UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told reporters.
Ansarullah, which means Supporters of God, refers to the Huthi rebels group that has been battling the Saudi-backed internationally recognized government in a conflict that has killed nearly 10,000 people since 2015.
The UN’s Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths has said the talks due to open on September 6 will be aimed at charting a path forward to revive UN-backed negotiations which broke down in 2016.
Vellucci said she had no information on whether representatives from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—another key government backer—had also been invited to Geneva.
Yemen’s government has said it has low expectations for the talks, blaming the Huthis for refusing to make concessions.
The UN has repeatedly described Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
