Yemen: People collect 'torn limbs in bags and blankets' after Saudi-led warplanes pound market

Saudi-led warplanes pounded a busy market in Yemen, killing at least 41 civilians and injuring 75 others. The air strikes took place in the northwestern province of Haja, which is mainly controlled by Shia Houthi rebels.

The coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war a year ago in an effort to stop Houthi forces from gaining further ground, and sought to reinstall President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's leadership. But one of the Arab world's richest nations has come under intense criticism over its role in the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Amnesty International condemned Riyadh for its "devastating" and "unlawful" air strikes on civilian targets in Yemen on 14 March.

At least three strikes hit a market in the Mustaba district, according to a Reuters report. A Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital said that it had received the bodies of 41 people killed by the raids, as well as 35 others who were wounded. Houthi-controlled Saba Net news agency put the death toll at 65 and said that 55 people were injured.

"The scene was terrifying," Showei Hamoud told The Associated Press by phone from Mastaba. "Blood and body parts everywhere."

Recalling the extent of the carnage, he said: "People collected the torn limbs in bags and blankets."

According to the UN, more than 6,200 people have died in Yemen since March 2015. In January this year the UN found that air strikes had been carried out against civilians – which the Saudis deny.

Amnesty International says that thousands of civilians have been killed and has called on President Obama to cancel more than $1bn (£706.3m) in arms sales – including more than 18,000 bombs and 1,500 warheads – to the oil-rich Gulf kingdom. The human rights organisation has found both unexploded and fragments of detonated bombs on the ground in Yemen.

Last month Saudi-led bombardments on a marketplace near the capital, Sanaa killed at least 40 people. The planes struck twice "in double-tap air strikes" in order to hit rescue workers, according to Chinese state news agency, Xinhua.