DUBAI – Two Saudi-led coalition air strikes in Yemen have killed at least26 children, UN officials said Friday, renewing calls for an independentinvestigation of attacks targeting civilians in the three-year war.

At least 22 children and four women died in an attack Thursday whilefleeing fighting in the Al-Durayhimi district, south of the rebel-held cityof Hodeida, UN aid chief Mark Lowcock said.

In addition to that strike, four other children were killed in a separateair strike in Al-Durayhimi, also on Thursday.

“This is the second time in two weeks that an air strike by the Saudi-ledcoalition has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties,” Lowcock, theundersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement.

A coalition attack on a bus in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada onAugust 9 killed 40 children, prompting UN Secretary-General AntonioGuterres to call for an independent investigation.

Lowcock renewed the UN appeal for “an impartial, independent and promptinvestigation” and said “those with influence” over the warring sides mustensure that civilians are protected.

The rebel-run Saba news agency said the air strike on Thursday hit a busand a house but the United Arab Emirates, a key partner in the coalition,blamed the Huthi rebels for the attack.

Al-Durayhimi lies some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Hodeida, and hasseen two weeks of fighting between the rebels and pro-government forcesbacked by the UAE.

“I had hoped that the outrage that followed the Saada attack in Yemen twoweeks ago would be a turning point in the conflict. Yesterday’s reportedattacks in Al-Durayhimi, killing 26 children, indicate that it was not,”said Henrietta Fore, the director of the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

Fore urged the warring sides, their foreign backers and the SecurityCouncil to “take action and end this conflict once and for all.” – APP/AFP