SANAA/DUBAI/GENEVA – A Saudi-led Arab military coalition said on Friday itwould investigate an air strike that killed dozens of children in Yemen, anapparent shift of stance on an attack Riyadh has portrayed as a legitimateaction against its Houthi foes.

At least 40 children were killed in Thursday’s strike on a bus in northernYemen, the armed Houthi group which controls Yemen’s capital said. Thatraised the toll of children killed in the raid from 29.

The strike by the Western-backed alliance of Arab countries outraged humanrights groups and was strongly condemned by U.N. officials. Henrietta Fore,executive director of the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF, said the “horrific”attack marked “a low point in (Yemen’s) brutal war”.

People in Saada started to dig graves in preparation for funerals to beheld on Saturday.

“God may give us patience,” said Hussein Hussein Tayeb, who lost three sonson the bus, on a trip with other pupils to visit a mosque and tombs.