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Incident on 19 January 2016 [+] Print this page

Location: Al-Aqil Industrial Compound, At Tahrir District, Amanat Al Asimah [+]

Country: Yemen [+]

Violation types: Unlawful Airstrike [+]

Location


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This incident took place in Al-Aqil Industrial Compound, At Tahrir District, Amanat Al Asimah, Yemen [+]

Description


According to Human Rights Watch: "Coalition forces struck the al-Aqil Industrial Compound, which houses seven factories producing different products including, plastic bags, food, clothing, and batteries, on two separate occasions since the beginning of their military operations in Yemen.... On January 19, at about 10:30 a.m., coalition forces struck a second factory in the compound that produced snack foods as well as a third that produced batteries. The attacks killed one worker and wounded 26 others. Ghabish, the security guard, said that during the January 2016 strike: I was in the administration [building]. We were doing our work, and we heard a very loud explosion. We went out to check what happened and we saw that [an airstrike hit] one of the factories. We found the workers running away. We tried to check if there were any [injured] workers left, and we heard the aircraft, so we retreated a little bit. Then we heard it again, I heard the aircraft and the sound of the [second] bomb because I was close. [After it hit,] I didn’t notice what happened. I saw the dust and stones, then they took me to the hospital directly. Muhammad Rajih, 26, an employee at the snack factory in the compound, said that he was also injured during the January strikes: I was in the hangar at the time of the first strike; I felt the blow. Then 10 minutes later there was a second one. Thank God everyone had left by then. That first explosion wounded me in my face and leg. [The blast] threw us everywhere. I am still getting treatment [for these injures]. Human Rights Watch examined the site on March 21, 2016. The first bomb left a wide, deep crater outside of the plastic bag factory, slightly damaging the building, and leaving plastic strewn across the yard. The second and third bombs blew through the roofs of the structures, and the second also left a deep crater. The third bomb was cushioned by products so did not dent the floor of the factory. Human Rights Watch found the remnants of the third bomb at the site and identified it as a MK-84 GP (general purpose) bomb. Human Rights Watch established that al-Aqil industrial compound is located about 100 meters from the Maintenance Corps Camp, a military site for the maintenance of military vehicles and weapons. The walls of the two sites are adjacent. However, factory workers said they did not know whether it remained in use or not. Ghabish told Human Rights Watch that coalition aircraft had struck the camp at least 13 times since the beginning of the war. The military maintenance site was a legitimate military target. However, the coalition should investigate the two attacks that struck the factory compound to determine if it was unlawfully targeted and whether all feasible precautions had been taken to minimize civilian loss of life and property. If they find the attack unlawful or carried out with insufficient precautions, the coalition should compensate workers and their families for injuries or deaths caused by the attack, as well as the factory owners for damage." [+]

Perpetrator units

Name Other Names Classification
Operation Restoring Hope [+] Arab Coalition
Arab Coalition Forces
Arab Coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen
Gulf Arab coalition
Hope Restoration Operation
Joint Forces
Operation Renewal of Hope
Operation Storm of Resolve
Saudi-led Arab Coalition
Saudi-led Coalition
coalition forces
operations Renewal of Hope
Air Force [+]
Army [+]
Joint Operation [+]
Military [+]
Navy [+]

Sources

List of all sources used to evidence the data in this record Click the "+" symbol next to every data point in the record to see the sources used for that data point.

Publication Date Publisher Publication Title Access Date Archive Link
11 July 2016 Human Rights Watch Bombing Businesses: Saudi Coalition Airstrikes on Yemen’s Civilian Economic Structures 22 November 2019