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Yemen admits US airstrike killed over 42 civilians
The government of Yemen has admitted that an airstrike personally ordered by President Obama last December killed more than 42 civilians, including many children.
A spokesperson for the Southern Movement, which is demanding the independence of southern Yemen, yesterday said the government must do more for families of the civilian victims killed or injured in an air strike in the Abyan village of al Maajala in December.
Local sources said more than 50 people, mostly women and children, were killed in the strike.
"We do thank the parliamentary committee for the work it did but it is not enough for the government to apologize and compensate people. The blood of the southern people is not that cheap to just ask the government to apologize and compensate," Abbas al Assal said.
The Yemeni government on Wednesday officially apologized to the families of the civilian victims of the attack and pledged to compensate them.
Al Assal said the parliament committee should have strongly condemned the attack, which the government said was aimed at rooting out al-Qaida militants.